The Story of Uzumaki Naruto: part I, beginning
by BlueGlass54
Summary: AU. Naruto learns of the Kyuubi sealed inside him and the truth of what happened the night of his birth, a truth no one expected... naruXhina sakuXsasu ON HOLD
1. Chapter 1

**chapter 1**

**The Beginning**

It was a cool autumn day in the village of Konoha. The many residents, both ninja and regular civilian, were going about their business as usual, completely unaware that on this day two people would meet for the first time, and that this meeting would set in motion a course of events that would affect not only Konoha, but the entire world. Umino Iruka, fifteen years old and recently promoted to chunin, was heading to one of the many orphanages that had sprung up in the village just under three years ago, after the Kyuubi attack.

The Kyuubi attack. Iruka would remember that day for the rest of his life. When his mother and father had headed out to help slow the beast down, he, being the foolish overconfident young academy student he was, followed after them. As soon as the ninjas noticed that there was a child among them, he was quickly grabbed up by one of the older shinobi and carried back towards the village, screaming to wait, that his parents were still out there.

The moment he spoke, though, the demon fox moved with lightning swiftness; Ten of the attacking ninja, including young Iruka's parents, were torn apart and instantly killed as the fox's huge jaws snapped shut on them.

Then, the demon, with blood and chunks of human meat still falling from its gigantic teeth, stared straight at the boy. It was an instant that seemed to last an eternity. As Iruka stared into those huge, blood-red, slitted eyes, and saw the hate and rage, and the cold, cruel intelligence, he knew nothing but fear. He _knew _that at that moment, he was staring into the face of evil incarnate, and he knew that the monster had, after hearing his shout, actually gone out of its way to kill his parents, just to make him suffer.

After the attack, he had been one of many put up in an orphanage, although only for a few months, after which he graduated from the Academy and was able to afford an apartment. Now, with his promotion to chunin last month, he was stopping by the orphanage to donate some of his hard-earned money, wanting to repay them for the kindness he had been shown during his short time there.

Upon walking in the front door, however, Iruka saw a sight he would never have expected. The owner of the orphanage, a normally kind, if somewhat strict, middle aged woman named Shindo Kaede, was _beating_ a small boy. Said boy was covered in dirt, bruises, and blood from various scrapes and cuts on his body, which was completely naked. He looked to be no older than two-and-a-half and was so skinny Iruka thought he might have never had a proper meal in his life; from what the chunin could discern through the filth of dirt and died blood, the boy's hair appeared to be a deep shade of blonde.

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU, MONSTER, TO KEEP AWAY FROM THE CHILDREN?" Kaede screamed, while repeatedly hitting the child all over his body with the handle of a broom. Amazingly, the small boy didn't make a single sound as the savage beating continued.

When the woman finished, her victim slowly turned his head to stare at her, and the shocked Iruka got his first clear look at the boy's face. The whisker-like birthmarks on the boy's cheeks instantly answered the chunin's question of who this child was and why he was being treated so terribly, this was the one the Kyuubi had been sealed into, the one who people whispered about, saying he was a demon child, that he should be killed.

But what most caught Iruka's attention were the boy's eyes. They were the deepest, clearest shade of blue the young ninja had ever seen, and despite the savage beating the boy had just gone through, they showed no signs of anger or pain, not even tears. Instead, all Iruka saw as he looked into those large blue eyes was a deep sadness. It was the eyes, more than anything else, that convinced the teen that this boy was in no way shape or form the demon fox. Something that evil could never have the eyes he saw on this child.

The boy, still staring at Kaede, spoke calmly, "The beating was much worse than normal today. Is it simply because my birthday is two days away, or did Hitaroshi-san reject your proposal again, Kaede-san?" He said this quietly and kindly, as though he honestly cared about the feelings of the woman who had just beaten him.

The woman's response was to slam the heel of her shoe down onto his leg as hard as she could. The snap of bone breaking was audible throughout the room, but the child made no reaction whatsoever to the pain. The woman stalked off, with one final command, "Get back to your room, and don't let me catch you trying to _infect_ anyone else!"

Iruka, still standing in the doorway, slowly walked up to the boy, who was starting to drag his way across the floor to the stairs using his arms and unbroken leg. "Do you want help?" the chunin asked.

The child turned his head and looked straight into the teenager's eyes.

"You don't hate me." It was a statement, not a question, and it was spoken with a small note of surprise and a slight bit of... hope?

"Of course I don't hate you. I've only just met you," Iruka responded.

"Everyone else hates me," the boy said back, and here he seemed to look even more sad and dejected.

"Surely not everyone hates you. There must be someone who cares for you?"

"Only Ojisan, and he's too busy to see me except for the times when one of the orphanages throws me out and he has to find a new one to take me." The boy's eyes lit up and a small smile appeared on his face at the thought of the old man.

_'Oji-san? He must mean Hokage-sama'_ thought Iruka. "My name's Umino Iruka. What's yours?"

The small smile quickly spread into a huge grin. "Uzumaki Naruto! It's nice to meet you, Iruka-oniisan!"

_'Big brother? I've only just met him!'_ was the the young chunin's thought. "Are you sure you don't want any help?" he asked. While they had been talking, Naruto had crawled the rest of the way to the staircase and dragged himself up the first set of stairs.

"No! I can do it on my own!" came the stubborn reply, and while Iruka definitely didn't like the idea of the boy having to drag himself slowly across the floor and up stairs, especially with a broken leg, he could tell from Naruto's tone of voice and expression that his aid was not wanted.

Still, his conscience couldn't leave it at that. "But doesn't it hurt?"

"I've gotten used to it," Naruto replied.

The rest of the journey to Naruto's room, which consisted of two more flights of stairs and a long hallway to a door that wouldn't close, was made in silence. The room itself was tiny and almost completely bare. A large dirty sheet folded over itself several times served as bedding. There was a tiny filthy window high up on the wall, a small pot in the far corner the purpose of which Iruka didn't want to think about, and a small pile of rags which Naruto was making his way towards.

Upon reaching the rags, the child sat up and pulled one over his head; apparently, they were once shirts. Once Naruto had gotten settled down, Iruka decided to continue their conversation. "What was she beating you for?"

"I was standing too close to the boy in front of me in the lunch line." was the casual reply, as though this kind of thing was regular.

"You must be starving. I have some instant ramen with me. Would you like it?"

"Y-you mean real food? A-And you'd be willing to share it with me?" Naruto asked, stunned.

_'Looks like he really _hasn't_ ever had real food before. That would explain why he seems so small for his age. Likely suffering from malnutrition as well'_ Iruka thought. "Of course. While I'm making it, why don't you tell me a bit more about yourself, Naruto?"

"All right. Thank you, Iruka-oniisan!" The blonde's happiness was infectious. As angry aa he was about Naruto's treatment, Iruka couldn't keep a small smile from spreading across his face.

First, Iruka took the pot from the corner of the room and used a very weak water jutsu in conjunction with a towel to scrub out the inside of the pot until it was completely clean. Then he emptied out the dirty water and refilled the pot with another weak water jutsu. Emptying the ramen package into the pot, he used a controlled, sustained fire jutsu to slowly bring the water to a boil.

While he was doing all this, the teen was listening as the child talked about his life. It wasn't a happy life, that was for sure. The adults were all cruel to him and taught the children to hate him as well. The few times he had tried to make friends or play, like he saw all the other kids doing, he would be beaten up, usually by the children. Eventually, he met one boy who was nice to him, but when he later saw said boy being beaten by one of the adults, he decided that trying to have friends just wasn't worth it. When he got extremely hungry, he would normally sneak down to the kitchen during the middle of the night for food. He was invariably beaten heavily the next morning, despite the total lack of evidence against him.

What interested Iruka greatly was Naruto's attitude towards his tormentors. He bore them no ill will whatsoever. "They're good people, for the most part," he said, "and if everyone hates me that much, they must have some reason, even if I don't know what it is. I just have to deal with it and keep going."

Naruto also seemed to be greatly taken with the ninja lifestyle. He wanted to grow up strong so that if anything ever threatened the village, like that demon fox he had heard attacked the village the day he was born, he'd be able to protect people.

By this time, the ramen was nearly done, and the smell was making the blonde boy's stomach growl uncontrollably. Once the food had cooled down enough to not burn Naruto's throat, Iruka brought the pot over and handed him the chopsticks. It was clear that Naruto had never actually used chopsticks before, but he quickly got the hang of them. About a minute after Iruka handed the boy the chopsticks, he had eaten all the ramen and even drank the remaining contents of the pot.

"That was the best food I've ever had in my life! Iruka-oniisan, I love you!" the blonde shouted jubilantly. His deep blue eyes, the most expressive eyes Iruka had ever seen, were proof that he meant every word.

"Naruto, it was wonderful meeting you, but I have to get going now. I promise I'll come back as soon as I possibly can." the chunin said, and felt he'd never mean anything in his life as much as what he said just then.

"Thank you, Iruka-oniisan, but do you think you could try to visit me again the day after tomorrow? It's my birthday, and people are always extra mean to me on my birthday."Naruto pleaded, and his happiness seemed to dim a bit thinking about the dreaded day.

"It's a promise, Naruto. And I'll even bring you a present."

"Wooho-OW!" In his excitement, the child had attempted to jump to his feet, only to be reminded painfully of his broken leg. Iruka, seeing by Naruto's still-joyful expression that the pain, which would have been enough to make any normal human scream, didn't have any major effect on the extraordinary boy, left the room smiling.

_'It must be the first birthday present you'll ever receive, Naruto. I'll make sure it'll be one you'll never forget'_ With this thought, Iruka left the orphanage and headed off to he Hokage tower as fast as he could. He needed to check up on the laws concerning adoption.

Any thoughts of donating his pay to the orphanage had long since vanished.


	2. Chapter 2

**chapter 2**

**New Life**

For the first time in his short life, Uzumaki Naruto was happy on his birthday. Iruka-oniisan had promised to visit him again, and had even said he'd have a_ present _for the boy. Naruto had seen the other children get presents on their birthdays, seen the joy on their faces as they opened up the gifts donated by kind-hearted villagers, but never in his wildest dreams had he imagined the possibility of getting one himself.

And that food Iruka-oniisan had given him! That food had been pure bliss. Ramen, he had called it. Naruto decided that it must be the best food in the whole world. Ever since his newfound friend had left, Naruto had had an air of joy around him that not even the multiple beatings he had been given could dissipate.

He was now standing in the front room of the orphanage, dressed in the same rag he had put on after taking Iruka-oniisan up to his room, with a small smile spread across his face, waiting impatiently for the young man to show up. When he did, Naruto threw himself at the ninja, enveloping his legs in a hug.

"IRUKA-ONIISAN!!" the child screamed happily.

"Naruto! You shouldn't be walking yet. Your leg can't be healed already." Iruka responded in shock.

After a brief moment of puzzlement, the blonde spoke. "What d'you mean? It's been two days. Of course my leg is all better."

Shaking off his amazement at the boy's miraculous healing abilities, Iruka disentangled his legs from Naruto's arms and kneeled down on the floor, putting his dark eyes directly on level with the blonde's bright blue ones. "Remember how I promised you a present?" the teenager asked.

Naruto, suddenly realizing by the slight seriousness that had creeped into the young man's voice and face that whatever he said next would completely change his life, stayed silent. He nodded slightly, never once taking his eyes off those dark orbs overflowing with kindness, so different from anyone else who looked at him.

"I'm going to adopt you as my younger brother," Iruka stated simply.

For a full thirty seconds, Naruto just stood there shocked, not making a sound. _'H-he's going to adopt... to adopt... younger brother... me... adopt...'_ His brain was so overloaded with happiness he couldn't think straight. Then, with a cry of pure joy, he threw himself at the young man, his Oniisan, wrapping his arms tightly around his neck, with tears of happiness springing to his eyes.

"N-Naruto... I... can't breathe," the chunin choked out. Hearing this, the boy quickly loosened his grip. "Come on, let's go," Iruka said after a moment. "I spent all of yesterday filling out the paperwork, so we can just walk on out."

And with that, the two walked out of the orphanage, hand in hand.

* * *

Their very first stop was for clothes. After being forced out of two different shops, they got lucky and found a store run by a kind old man who took pity on the poor boy's terrible situation and actually gave them the clothes at a large discount. Naruto walked out of the store wearing an orange short-sleeved tee shirt, a pair of blue shorts, and red sandals. They were the first personal possessions he had ever had.

The glares Naruto received while walking through the village were... different from what he was used to at the orphanage. More intense. Maybe because there were just so many of them. Whenever it started to get to be too much for the young blonde, he would look at his Oniisan and think about how kind and caring he was. The new glares were something he'd just have to adapt to.

The next destination was food. Iruka took Naruto to a ramen stall he frequented, run by a kind middle-aged man named Ichiraku Teuchi. Ichiraku took one look at the blonde's thin, starved frame and offered him all the ramen he could eat for free. He quickly regretted his decision, however, when the boy reached his twenty-fourth bowl and showed no signs of slowing down.

One set of clothes and forty-two bowls of ramen after leaving the orphanage, Iruka led Naruto to their shared apartment, where Naruto was amazed to find that he had a small bed all for himself. The apartment was fairly small, but large enough for the two of them to live in relative comfort. There was the main room, which contained a sofa, table and chairs, and a small kitchen area, and off of it there was the bedroom and washroom. The bedroom held Naruto's small bed and Iruka's larger one and enough space for the two to store any personal belongings. The washroom was complete with toilet, sink and mirror, and a shower, all of which Naruto made use of.

When the boy exited the washroom about an hour later, Iruka got his first look at a clean Naruto. His hair was, as the chunin had thought, a dark blonde, and it was the kind of hair that was very unruly and spiked up everywhere. His skin seemed to naturally be a healthily tanned shade, and while he was currently so skinny that every one of his ribs was clearly visible, Iruka was sure that proper meals, especially if they continued to be as large as the one he had had earlier that day, would soon fix that problem. Amazingly, though not that surprising, considering the overnight healing of the broken leg, all the bruises and cuts the boy had had earlier in the day were already gone.

Later that night, as the two adopted brothers were getting ready for bed, Iruka couldn't help but think of his parents, and was overcome by sadness at their loss. He tried to hide it from Naruto, after all, he was doing his best to make this day special for him, but one look was all the perceptive little boy needed. "What's wrong, Oniisan?" he asked, wanting to comfort his newfound big brother.

Iruka, realizing that it was pointless to try to hide it from the boy, sat down on the side of his bed and said sadly, "My parents were killed during the Kyuubi attack, three years ago this night."

"Mine too, or at least that's what Ojiisan told me," the blonde replied, sitting down next to his big brother and giving him a comforting hug. Being able to comfort someone like this was something Naruto had never been able to do before. It felt... nice. Both males quickly dissolved into tears, overwhelmed by the powerful emotions of their day. They soon laid down in their separate beds and fell asleep.

* * *

Naruto was quick to adjust to his new life with Iruka. His new big brother, while still allowing him his large feasts of ramen when money would permit, causing great joy for both the blonde and Ichiraku, made sure the boy also got enough nutrients for healthy growth. Only two months of proper eating and a sudden growth spurt had young Naruto looking like the healthy three-year-old he was, instead of the emaciated two-year-old he had appeared to be on first meeting Iruka.

At the young child's insistence, Iruka taught him the basics of the shinobi lifestyle, about chakra, jutsu, and the importance of physical exercise. The boy soon began pouring large amounts of free time into vigorous morning workouts for his body and pre-sleep meditation to try and feel his chakra. After only three months of nightly meditation, Naruto had developed his chakra sensory abilities to the point where he could not only sense the chakra in his own body at all times but could occasionally sense his big brother's chakra as well. Unheard of for a three-year-old.

One day, Iruka, having noticed just how far young Naruto had taken his ninja obsession, took the boy aside to have a serious conversation with him about it.

"Naruto," he said, looking the boy straight in those deep blue eyes, "before I teach you anything more, I want you to be absolutely sure that you know what it is you want. What do you think it means to be a ninja of Konoha?"

Naruto, in that calm, quiet tone of voice he reserved for the most important moments, replied, thinking it through in his mind as he spoke, "To be a ninja means... to be strong... in order to protect those weaker than you... like the Yondaime did." Naruto had a sort of hero-worship on the youngest and shortest-reigning Kage in history, especially for the self-sacrifice he had performed in ridding the world of Kyuubi.

"Not necessarily," the chunin responded, "and while it is admirable that you think that way, not all ninjas do. I'll put it bluntly, since I know you don't like wasting time and beating around the bush. To be a ninja means to be trained in how to kill. There's no way around it. At some point in the career of every ninja, there comes a time when they have no choice but to end another's life. Could you bring yourself to do that, Naruto? Could you bring yourself to end another's life? I know how you have that strange tendency to somehow empathize with everyone you meet, no matter what they think of you."

Iruka was right. Naruto did seem to somehow relate himself to everyone he met. That was why he never got angry at the villagers for the way they treated him. Naruto closed his eyes and retreated into his mind for several minutes before opening them again and speaking, "I think... if I had no other choice... and it was to protect someone important enough, like you or Ojiisan, then... yes. Yes I would."

"So be it. Come with me; I'm going to start teaching you how to use that chakra you've gotten so good at sensing," At the last part of his statement, a small amount of pride expressed itself in his face and voice at his little brother's astounding progress.

* * *

Iruka took Naruto to a training area not currently in use and immediately entered instructor mode. He had found, over the past three months, that he rather enjoyed teaching and seemed to have a talent for it. "Now, I want you to feel for the chakra flowing through your body. Reach out to it with your mind and try altering the flow. Once you've managed that, let me know, and we'll move on to the next step."

"Yes, Iruka-sensei!" When his big brother got into this mode, Naruto would always refer to him as Iruka-sensei. It just seemed... appropriate. He immediately began doing as instructed. After about fifteen minuets, the blonde felt he had gotten the hang of it. He could alter his chakra flow, causing larger and smaller amounts of chakra to flow through various body parts. He announced this to his teacher.

_'Hmm. It took him a lot longer than it should have to get that. Ah well. On to the next step.'_ Iruka thought. "All right. Now, I need to explain something. The chakra that you have running through your body right now is being restrained subconsciously. That's because having unrestrained chakra running through your body for long periods of time is fatal. The energy is too much for the chakra circulatory system to handle for extended periods of time, and your body would be torn apart from the inside out. To unleash the full potential of your chakra, you have to forcefully create additional chakra and combine it with your naturally-created chakra.

"To forcefully create additional chakra, you have to take the physical and spiritual energies in your body and actively force them together in equal amounts. This process is known as moulding chakra, and the moulded chakra should feel different from your regular chakra. Now, I want-"

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto interrupted, "Why do the two energies have to be mixed in equal amounts? I mean, isn't the naturally-mixed chakra made up of the two energies mixing equally?"

Though upset at the interruption, the chunin decided not to comment on it, as the energetic boy had asked a good question. "Naturally-mixed chakra is not an equal mix of the two. That's why people have affinities for certain elements, since the elemental type of chakra is determined by the way the physical and spiritual energies mix. As for why the moulded chakra has to be equal parts of both, that's because only that kind of chakra can unleash the full potential of the natural chakra.

"Now, as I was saying before, I want you to mould a small amount of chakra and let it spread throughout your body. Then, I want you to combine it with your natural chakra and feel the unrestrained chakra flowing through your body, and finally, I want you to let that unrestrained chakra out of your system. Don't worry, the chakra will want to escape. All you'll have to do is let it go."

"Understood, Sensei. I'll get right to work!" The young blonde did just that. He felt for the physical and spiritual energies deep within his body, constantly mixing to make new chakra and replace the small amount being absorbed or let loose, then he forced them together, making sure they mixed equally. He instantly felt the difference in this moulded chakra. As instructed, Naruto let the moulded chakra spread throughout his natural chakra, then he willed the two to mix together. What happened next was something neither of them had anticipated.

Naruto let out a scream of pain as a huge wave of chakra exploded from his body, shredding his clothes to pieces and ripping up the ground for several feet around him. Iruka was thrown back forcefully by the wave and his head had knocked against the ground before he had realized what was going on. After the few seconds it took his head to clear, it was over, and Naruto was laying in a small crater in the ground, unconscious, or so the chunin hoped.


	3. Chapter 3

**chapter 3**

**surprising child**

Iruka was furious. He had immediately rushed Naruto's unconscious form to the hospital, only to find that _none_ of the doctors were willing to even take a look at the boy. He was now hurrying as fast as he could straight to the Hokage tower, still carrying the limp form of his adopted little brother, in the hopes that the Sandaime would be able to do something.

Upon arriving, he burst in to the old man's office unannounced, shouting, "Hokage-sama! There was an accident, and Naruto was severely injured. The hospital refused treatment."

"Calm down, Iruka," the Sandaime ordered, then signaled to one of the ANBU constantly present in his office. "Summon my personal physician, immediately." Turning back to Iruka, he said, "Tell me what happened."

By the time the chunin had finished, the old man's physician had arrived. "What is the matter, Hokage-sama?" the man asked.

"This boy," he replied, gesturing to Naruto, who was now laid out on the sofa, "was seriously injured while training, apparently by a massive overload of chakra in his system. Do everything you can for him."

The physician, holding his questions as to why the child was here instead of the hospital, and how a three-year-old managed to suffer a chakra overload in the first place, immediately got to work, removing what remained of the boy's clothes and performing a medical diagnostic jutsu on the unconscious blonde.

His eyes widened in shock as he finished, then he turned to the Hokage. "His entire chakra network has been completely obliterated, but he is otherwise unharmed. Additionally, his body is producing more chakra at an astonishing rate and actually using it to rebuild his chakra circulatory system as we speak. While this is going on, he is also absorbing just enough chakra from his surroundings to stay alive. At his current rate, he should be out of danger in thirty-six to forty-eight hours, but in the meantime, he'll need a large source of chakra near him at all times, or his body will not be able to function."

The Sandaime took a moment to digest all this before responding. "Thank you; you may go." The man bowed and did as told. Turning to the teenaged chunin, the Hokage continued, "Iruka, will you please return to your apartment and fetch a new set of clothes for Naruto? I will personally watch over him and inform you the moment he wakes."

"Yes, Hokage-sama!" was the reply, and, while still worried about his little brother, went to do as asked.

* * *

Naruto regained consciousness to find himself lying on something soft and comfortable, staring at a plain white ceiling. He smelled a somewhat familiar smell, that of old man mixed with tobacco. The last thing he remembered was training with Oniisan and doing as instructed, followed by a terrible pain, unlike any he had ever felt before. It had felt like he was being torn apart from the inside out. Now, though, he felt completely fine. Suddenly, he identified that smell and, turning towards its sorce, shout in joy, "Ojiisan!"

The old man turned to him. "Naruto, you're awake. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine Ojiisan, a bit tired though. What happened?"

"It seems that your chakra was much too large and wild for your chakra coils to contain, and it exploded from your body, destroying your chakra circulatory system. Because of your extremely advanced healing ability, your body was able to rebuild your chakra circulatory system, but you have been unconscious for two full days. Iruka has been very worried about you." He then summoned one of his ANBU and told the ninja to go find the chunin.

"Thanks for taking care of me, Ojiisan," the blonde said, while waiting for his brother to arrive.

"Of course, Naruto. As Hokage, it is my duty to protect everyone in the village," the old man replied.

The boy seemed to think about this for a moment, before speaking, "Protecting everyone... Seems like a good thing to do. Plus, people will have to notice and respect me. That's it, I've decided! I'm gonna be Hokage someday!" As he reached the last part of his declaration, a huge grin spread across Naruto's face, and his eyes seemed to glow in happiness.

The Sandaime grinned, and a bit of humor at the suddenness of the child's decision flitted through his eyes. "I'm sure you will, Naruto, but you'll have to work very hard to get there."

At this point, Iruka rushed into the room. "Naruto!" he shouted, rushing over to the boy.

"Oniisan!" The blonde threw himself off the sofa and into his adopted brother's waiting arms, and the two hugged each other tightly.

"I'm glad you're all right, Naruto," the kind chunin said.

After another minute of hugging, they parted, Naruto dropping softly to the floor. Turning to the aged Hokage sitting behind his desk, the boy asked, "What does this mean for my training?"

The old man thought for a moment. "Currently, your chakra coils are far too weak and your chakra itself far too wild for you to really do much. Attempting to learn any jutsu would likely kill you. As such, you should probably focus on theories and ideas, as well as physical abilities, while slowly building up the strength of your chakra circulatory system by _carefully_ moulding _tiny_ amounts of chakra. If you want, I'm sure I could find someone willing to tutor you."

The blonde vhemently regected that last idea. "No! Iruka-Oniisan is the best teacher in the world! I don't want some stupid tutor!"

Iruka smiled at the compliment, while simultaneously admonishing his little brother. "Naruto! Show a little bit more respect to Hokage-sama."

"It's perfectly all right, Iruka," the old man said, "Well, Naruto, you should probably get going home now. I can only hope I live long enough to see the day when you are the one sitting behind this desk wearing these robes."

Saying their goodbyes to the Sandaime, the two left the office and headed out of the tower. "What was that comment Hokage-sama made at the end about?" the chunin asked.

"Oh, I decided that I'm going to become Hokage someday!" Naruto exclaimed, that huge smile spreading across his face again.

* * *

As time went by, Naruto and Iruka lived happily enough. Though the general populace of Konoha either avoided the boy or hated him, there were enough people like Ichiraku that he was able to get the necessities of life, like food, ramen, clothes, ramen, ninja equipment (shuriken, kunai, appropriate clothes, weights for training, and smoke bombs), and ramen. One thing Iruka worried about, though, was his young brother's lack of interaction with other children his age. The youngest person he spoke to on even a semi-regular basis was Ichiraku's daughter, Ayame, but the age gap between the two was a full four years, a huge difference for children so young.

Iruka was the only one to truly notice it, but Naruto's personality began to develop in a fairly odd way. Most of the time, the blonde would be happy, loud, tactless, rude, and full of energy, with a small mischievous side that only got worse as he grew up. At time, though, usually when it was just the two of them, he would change completely and become a serious, quiet, thoughtful boy, whose deep blue eyes showed clearly just how much he knew of the pain in the world, more than most adults and far too much for such a young child. Iruka blamed the citizens of Konoha for this ever-growing division in his favorite blonde's personality. He realized the boy must be doing it subconsciously as a reaction to his loneliness and the constant hate poured onto him by the villagers.

There were a variety of things about Naruto, the chunin noticed, that were truly amazing. First was the level of maturity the boy would display in his serious side, at least equal to that of any adult Iruka had ever met. Next was his ability to pick up on the feelings and emotions of others, which was so great that he could instantly tell when someone was lying, even if it was his first time meeting the person. Also, how the blonde could eat, as Iruka once calculated, twice his own bodyweight in ramen at a single sitting and walk away as though nothing had happened would forever be a mystery to the chunin. And finally, there was the sheer determination and strength of will he applied to everything he did, especially his study of the ninja arts.

Physically, Naruto was astounding. His strength and speed were far above what one could possibly suspect given his age, and his stamina was so great that, when the two went on runs together, Iruka would usually tire first. Not to mention his incredible pain tolerance and healing, two facts he would often use to keep the regular beatings the villagers would give him (to which Naruto offered no resistance) secret from his big brother. On top of all this, his senses, especially smell, hearing, and chakra detection, were well above average. One glaring weakness, though, was his apparent impossiblity of wrapping his brain around any sort of taijutsu style, leaving him to fight solely on instinct and whatever seems best at a given moment.

All the ideas and theories Iruka taught him, Naruto soaked up like a sponge. By the time he was four, the blonde knew everything his big brother did about chakra, elemental affinities, nature and form manipulation, bloodline limits, hand signs, and jutsu creation. And considering that Iruka had made chunin almost solely on his superior knowledge of everything pertaining to ninja life, this was quite impressive.

But that was nothing compared to how the boy took to sealing. It was quite obvious that Naruto was a sealing prodigy of the highest order, especially when he surpassed his big brother within his first two weeks of study, forcing the chunin to seek out more advanced scrolls on the topic to satiate the blonde's desires. After only a few months, he even began to invent his own seals, mostly for use in his training and specifically with his wild chakra in mind. By the time he was six, Naruto had to beg the Hokage for scrolls to continue his study of the subject, which the old man gladly lent him.

All this time, the blonde had been slowly working on his chakra problems, but he still hadn't reached the point of not damaging (though nowhere near the level of destruction he had inflicted on himself the first time) his inner coils when it came time, a little less than half a year after his sixth birthday, to enter the Ninja Academy.


	4. Chapter 4

**chapter 4**

**the academy and the discovery**

Uzumaki Naruto was nervous. Scratch that, Uzumaki Naruto was _extremely_ nervous. He was heading to the Konoha Ninja Academy for his first day of classes. But it wasn't the classes themselves that were making him so nervous; with all the training he had received from his big brother, he felt more than ready for anything the Academy could throw at him. No, he was nervous because there would be other students.

What would it be like to be around children his own age again? While logically he knew that they would probably hate him, just like everyone else did, he was an optimistic boy and hoped he would finally have a chance to make friends. And what would they think of him? Would they think he was loud? Annoying? These were the sorts of thoughts running through the blonde's head as he entered the Academy and found his way to room 107.

His first hint that things would be even worse than he expected was when the sensei was taking attendance. When he reached the spot where Naruto's name should have been, he simply glared at the boy and skipped to the next name on the sheet. Naruto instantly felt his hopes of having a fair and unbiased teacher dashed to pieces.

The next problem came during history class. In the middle of a lecture about the founding of Konoha, the teacher suddenly interrupted himself. "Uzumaki!"

"Yes, Sensei!" was the instant response.

"Who was the Yondaime's jonin sensei?"

"Jiraya of the Sannin," the blonde replied without thinking.

The teacher paused for a moment, clearly angry that he had known the correct answer. "For being a know-it-all, go sit in the hall for the rest of the period."

"Yes, Sensei," Naruto said dejectedly.

The rest of the morning continued in a similar fashion, with the teachers all glaring at, ignoring, or ejecting the boy from their classes. But by far the worst part of the day happened when it came time for recess.

Naruto was wandering around the playground, mentally preparing himself for the rejection he expected to receive from his peers. Then, he saw a group of three boys taunting and hitting another, smaller boy. Naruto couldn't stand bullies. He had watched the children in the orphanage bully each other for the first three years of his life and always hated not being able to do anything about it. That would change now, he decided, while heading towards the boys.

"Haha. I bet you can't even hold a shuriken without cutting yourself, butterfingers!" one of the bullies taunted.

"Who ever heard of a ninja who had to wear glasses, four-eyes?" said another, while knocking said glasses off his victim's face.

"Besides, aren't you a bit too small, runt?" the third finished up, shoving the smaller boy.

"Butterfingers! Four-eyes! Runt!"

"Butterfingers! Four-eyes! Runt!"

"Butterfingers! Four-ey-"

"HEY! Leave him alone!" Naruto shouted, mustering up the scariest expression he could. They may have been mean, but the blonde felt no need to resort to unnecessary violence. Just scaring them would be enough.

The bullies turned, took one look at his face, and scattered in fear.

"Are you all right?" he asked the other boy helping him to his feet.

"Yeah, thank y-" The boy froze after getting a clear look at Naruto.

"MONSTER!" he screamed, suddenly punching the blonde in the face. The blonde was too stunned to even try to avoid the blow. He had thought he had prepared himself for the hatred, the disgust, and the beatings he would face from his classmates. But now, to see that hatred and disgust appear so quickly in the eyes of a boy he had just helped, he just wasn't ready for it.

Breaking down into silent tears, he blurrily saw that the three bullies had returned, bringing all the other children on the playground with them. Then they all took turns punching, kicking, and throwing dirt on the blonde, interspersed with shouts of "monster" and "demon."

Naruto didn't mind the physical pain; it was nothing compared to the beatings from the older, stronger villagers. But the pure, unrestrained hatred he could feel radiating from the children was overwhelming. Never had he felt hatred this all-encompassing before. He had always been highly sensitive to others' emotions and, as such, had noticed long ago that children tended to feel their emotions much more strongly than adults did, but the intensity of this hatred was unprecedented.

He could feel it penetrating into his body and going into the very core of his being. Then, he felt... something. Something deep within him, reacting to the hatred, suddenly sent out a huge burst of energy. Naruto vaguely recognized the energy as some kind of chakra, but it seemed strange. Much more potent and, somehow, completely evil. He barely registered that the children around him had been thrown twenty feet away from him, screaming in pain. The blonde suddenly felt extremely tired and fell asleep within a few seconds.

* * *

As time went by, the incident on the playground that first day was, in some ways, completely forgotten. All the adults pretended that it had never happened, and Naruto assumed that they must have eventually managed to block it from their minds. He never discussed it with Iruka-oniisan; that feeling of evil had scared him, and he knew he would not be comfortable talking about it. The only evidence that anything at all had happened was the fear he always saw in his classmates' eyes when he looked at them, and the way they would always make sure to avoid him completely.

In his classes, Naruto started having trouble. He found that he had some kind of mental block about written tests. He would normally know the answers but not be able to formulate his thoughts into words on paper. As a result, he always failed miserably. On top of that, no matter how hard he tried, he simply could not memorize the thousands of pointless, boring facts about Konoha's history that the teachers pounded into their brains.

He also continued to have his previous problems with taijutsu and chakra control, resulting in him not being able to even attempt either of the jutsus the class learned, kawarimi and henge, without overloading them with chakra and suffering severe physical pain.

The only reasons he never flunked out of the Academy were because of his amazing knowledge of the ninja arts and his outstanding strength and stamina. He also suspected that the Hokage was forcing the teachers to keep him in the school. Unfortunately, sealing was too advanced a topic for Academy study, so Naruto never had a chance to show his skill in that particular discipline.

Naruto grew to hate his time at the academy so much that at the end of the year he applied to take the graduating test early, in the hopes of getting away from the constant aura of fear surrounding his classmates. Needless to say, he failed miserably. But, Naruto being Naruto, he tried again at the end of his second year, only to fail a second time.

It was not long after this second failure that Naruto made a discovery that would forever alter the course of his life.

* * *

It was late winter. Spring would be arriving in a couple weeks, and with it, Naruto's third year at the Konoha Ninja Acaemy. The blonde, now eight-and-a-half, was home alone that night, Iruka-oniisan being on guard duty at the southern village gate.

Naruto, his mind too full for sleep, decided to spend his time being productive. As such, he walked over to the mirror on the far wall of the bedroom, took off his shirt, molded some chakra, and started studying the seal on his stomach.

The seal was a mystery to the boy. Why it was there, who put it there, why they put it there, and what it did, he knew none of. These questions were actually what had spurred his interest in sealing in the first place. Over the years, he'd studied the seal, but the only conclusion he'd been able to reach was that whoever made it was a genius. It had always been far too complex for him to figure out.

He had never mentioned the seal or his studying of it to his big brother. He had always felt that the seal was just too personal to share with anyone. This would be his first time having a good look at it since starting the Academy. Classes had always taken up too much of his time during the schoolyear.

"Ah! Now it makes sense!" With two additional years of studying high-level sealing, what had previously looked like a mess of squiggly lines and shapes was distinguishable as an extremely complicated seal, with multiple functions and a variety of parts all interacting just so to produce the desired effect.

"So these bits right here are converting something... Something to do with chakra. Could this seal be the reason for all my chakra control problems?" he mused, deciding to talk out loud since he was alone.

"And then these bits are slowly extracting something from the center, and this part here seems to be inoperative right now. Looks like it would handle any extractions from the center that are too big for the extractors and converters to take care of. And in the middle of all this..."

"Some kind of containment seal? No, not just a containment seal, there's a binding seal mixed in as well. So whatever's being contained is also permanently bound to me... But what in the world is it? Something powerful, to have a containment seal this strong, no doubt about that. And when did I get this thing, anyway? With the way the seal has integrated itself into me, it must have been when I was really little, probably even the day I... was... born..."

Suddenly, in that moment, everything slid into place. The beatings. The names. The fear. The hatred. The glares. The power he had felt that day on the playground. Everything.

"Kyuubi," said Naruto.


	5. Chapter 5

**chapter 5**

**departure**

Naruto lost track of how long he sat there crying. It seemed like an eternity, but at the same time, it might have been no more than a minute. Eventually, when he had calmed down enough to think clearly, he realized that he needed to decided what to do now that he knew why he was so hated. Could he bring himself to keep suffering the hell he had been living, now that he knew the reason for it? Or would the pressure eventually make him snap and go insane, quite probably releasing the monster sealed within him. He had noticed that the seal on his stomach drew its power almost solely from the strength of his mind. Were he to lose his sanity, the boy had no doubt that the seal would become weak enough for the fox demon to escape.

Suddenly, the blonde noticed that he had not yet bothered to put his shirt back on. He quickly did so, feeling a bit embarrassed, as he had a strange feeling that someone was watching him, despite his advanced senses picking up nothing. Coming to a decision, Naruto grabbed a pen and paper, wrote a lengthy message to his Oniisan, left the letter on Iruka's bed, grabbed all his possessions, stuffed them into a seal-enhanced backpack he had made, and left the apartment.

* * *

Little did the boy know, but someone actually had been watching him the entire time. The Sandaime drew himself away from his crystal ball. He started bustling about his office, gathering up a couple scrolls and various other items, then left through the window, heading quickly towards the west gate, which was closest to Naruto and Iruka's apartment.

At the same time, the old man made two kage bushins, sending one off to the south gate and the other to a ramen stand near the center of the village.

* * *

Naruto was running silently towards the west gate. He figured that given the time of night, his decnet stealth skills, and that the guards were concentrated on things coming into the village, he would have no trouble making his escape. As he came in sight of the wall, however, the last persom he had expected to see appeared from the shadows.

"Ojiisan?" the blonde asked quietly.

The aged Hokage replied just as quietly, "Come, Naruto. Walk with me." The two went off slowly in the direction of, to the boy's great surprise, the west gate.

Predictably, the younger of the two was the first to break the silence. "Ojiisan, how come you never told me about... about the Kyuubi?"

"Iruka and I had agreed to wait and tell you when we thought you were old enough. Clearly, we underestimated both your maturity and your skill with seals." On saying these words, the old man let out a small chuckle. "How long are you planning on leaving for?"

The blonde shrugged. "A year. Two at most. I just need some time away from _all this_," he said, gesturing at the village around them, "to think things over. I doubt I'll go too far away, and I don't plan on leaving Fire Country."

"Take all the time you need, Naruto. You know that there will always be at least a few people here who care about you." the Sandaime responded.

The blonde smiled that small happy smile of his, and deep blue eyes seemed to shine in joy. "I know. Thank you, Ojiisan."

"You're welcome, Naruto. But would it really be right," he said, smiling, "to leave for so long without saying goodbye to those caring people?"

Naruto suddenly detected three _very_ familiar chakra signatures on the road ahead. One was that of a ninja the blonde knew almost as well as he did himself, while the other two belonged to an old ramen chef and his twelve-year-old daughter. The blonde panicked briefly, not sure how to face them, until the old man gently put his hand on the boy's shoulder. Then he remembered what he himself had just said. These people were his friends and would love him and care for him no matter what.

"Ichiraku-ojiisan, Ayame-neesan, Iruka oniisan," the blonde started, "I-I'll miss you. I promise I'll be back in two years at the latest, there's just some things I have to go deal with, away from the village."

"Just make sure you don't starve out there. I'd hate to lose my number one customer," the old ramen stand owner said playfully.

Naruto laughed. "Don't worry about me. But you'd better be ready for when I get back. I'm going to want at least a hundred bowls of ramen, and I expect to see at least five new flavors!"

"I'll hold you to that, boy," Ichiraku replied.

The blonde turned to the only female present. "Ayame-neechan."

"Naruto-kun."

The two children, who had come to view each other more as brother and sister than anything else, hugged each other tightly.

Finally, the boy faced his adopted brother. Hundreds of emotions ran across both their faces.

"Be safe, Naruto."

"I will, Oniisan."

They left it at that, knowing that if either said any more, they'd be there for hours.

As Naruto tuned to leave, however, the Hokage stopped him. "Naruto, take these with you," he said, holding out two scrolls and a small wooden box. "If you're old enough to know part of the truth, you're old enough to know all of it. This is everything your parents left for you." The blonde accepted the gifts graciously, carefully placing them into his backpack while noting the puzzled expressions in the eyes of the others present. Apparently, they too did not know what the old man meant. Without another word, the blonde boy turned and walked out of the village.

* * *

Once he had gotten a good distance from Konoha, Naruto suddenly realized that he was extremely tired. He quickly found a secluded area, surrounded it with seals to warn him of any potential threats that approached, found a sturdy tree branch, and was soon asleep, thinking about how much more comfortable it was than orphanage floors.

When he woke up the next morning, he immediately went about procuring food. It didn't take the ninja-in-training long to find, kill, and skin a rabbit, and he soon had the meat roasting over a small fire he had made. He then performed his daily morning exercise routine, which consisted of two hundred each of pushups, sit-ups, pull-ups, squats, leg lifts, and vertical pushups, four hundred punches and kicks, two hundred on each limb, then a twenty mile run, followed by everything else again, but backwards. Naruto liked some symmetry in his life. The whole routine was made several hundred times more difficult by the twenty-four weight seals he had invented and placed strategically around his body five years ago, currently all set to amounts ranging from 100 to 700 pounds, and the much newer resistance seal he had created and applied to himself only a few months ago.

The idea of the resistance seal was simple. It would affect every muscle in his body, applying a set amount of resistance, proportionally based on the strength of the muscle and the amount of chakra in the seal, to any force exerted by the muscle. This resulted in a more thorough workout than would otherwise be possible, as even the movements aided by gravity would require a good deal of effort on the boy's part. And best of all, the resistance seal had no effect on his bodyweight, so he could keep it active at all times without fear of breaking a tree branch because he could not yet control his chakra well enough to instinctively balance out the extra four-and-a-half tons from his weight seals. The resistance seal was currently set so that his biceps, the standard muscle off of which the others were compared relatively based on strength, had 600 pounds of resistance.

During his workout, Naruto thought about what he should do next, something he hadn't really given much thought to yet. He had just known that he had to get out of Konkha, the rest he was planning on making up as he went along. The blonde decided that he would first look at the items the Hokage had given him the previous night, then proceed to try and find a way to contact the fox demon trapped within him, probably through some kind of deep meditation.

He had always wanted to know about his parents, but the old man would consistently brush him away, saying that he would tell him when he was older. Well, apparently he was old enough now. Thinking of the fox worried the blonde greatly. A demon that powerful and devious wouldn't be sitting around doing nothing while trapped inside a young human, waiting for death to claim them both. No, it would be plotting, and planning, and possibly scheming, trying to find a way out. And the last thing Naruto wanted was to find out that his seal was weakening from the inside out.

So, the blonde ninja-to-be, still sweaty from his morning workout, reached into his backpack and pulled out the two scrolls and the box the Sandaime had given him, all of which he noted were sealed with blood seals, and the box also had space-enhancement seals, chakra-resistance seals, and reinforcement seals, just like his backpack. The blood seals were more than enough confirmation that these really were from his parents, as only direct relatives of the sealer could unlock blood seals. Naruto bit his thumb to draw blood and swiped it across one of the scrolls, ready to find out about his parents.


	6. Chapter 6

**chapter 6**

**revelations**

Unrolling one of the two scrolls, Naruto saw a short message. The writing was clear and strong, but rushed, as though the writer had been in a hurry. For some reason, looking at it gave the boy an odd, empty feeling. After his brief examination, the blonde began reading, trying to drink in every word, knowing that this would be the only contact he ever had with his parents.

_Dear Naruto,_

_I don't have time to say even half of what I want to in here; the Kyuubi is getting closer to the village with every second. I want you to know that I love you and I'm sorry and I hope you grow to be a great person_

_Your father,_

_Namikaze Minato_

The name at the bottom of the letter was one Naruto recognized instantly. He was in shock. The Yondaime. The Yondaime was his father.

For several minutes, the blonde just sat there, staring at the scroll gripped tightly in his hands. He didn't know how to feel. To know that his own father had been the one to condemn him to the hell he lived in made him want to hate the man, but, at the same time, he could clearly see the man's reasoning.

A Hokage's duty was, first and foremost, to his or her village. Had he not done what he had, Konoha would no longer exist. And what newborn would he trust with the task of holding back the demon fox more than his own son?

All of a sudden, the boy broke out into laughter. How did he not see this before? He had seen pictures of the Yondaime, of his father. He looked almost exactly the same! Same dark blonde hair. Same clear, deep blue eyes. Same mouth, nose, ears. The only real differences were Naruo's whisker-shaped birthmarks on his cheeks and his abnormally large and sharp canine teeth. Both of which, the blonde noted, could be because of the demon inside him.

Once he got his wild emotions calmed down, for what Naruto suddenly realized was the third time in less than twenty-four hours. the blonde prepared himself to open the other scroll. If the first one had been from his father, then this one must have been from his mother. The boy found himself staring at the scroll resting in his hands, wondering about the woman who had written it. What had she been like? Had she loved him? If she had lived, would she have taken care of him? And how did she die, anyway? If she had just given birth, wouldn't she have been in the hospital? He knew from the history books that the Kyuubi's attack never made it to the village proper. His father had stopped it before that.

Knowing that the only way he would get any answers was to open the scroll and read it, Naruto bit his thumb again and used the blood to dispel the seal. Upon unrolling the scroll, the first thing he noticed was that his mother's letter was much longer and not rushed. Presumably, she had written it a good while before the attack. He also noted that his mother's handwriting was a bit messy, just like his own, and that it tended to change in size and legibility, likely, also like Naruto's, depending on her emotions.

Just like he had with his father's letter, the blonde read slowly, taking in every word. But instead of the feeling of emptiness he had gotten from the first letter, Naruto could feel the love his mother had had for him practically rolling off her words in waves.

_Dear Naruto,_

_If you are reading this, that means something has happened to me. As I write, your father is rushing about like a madman. We just received word that the Kyuubi is heading this way, intent on destroying Konoha, and will be here in about sixteen hours. While Minato is looking for a way to stop the beast, I'm stuck sitting here writing this letter I hope will never be read and eating what may turn out to be my last bowl of ramen. Have you ever eaten ramen, Naruto? If you haven't, you should. It's the most delicious food ever, with the way the noodles combine with the soup and everything else to make such a wonderful taste and smell. I'm sure you'll love it. Just be sure to have a balanced diet. It may be the best food in the world, but eat nothing else, and you'll go through life as a midjet._

_Oops! Sorry to go off about ramen like that. I get distracted easily when talking and writing a letter, and my mind tends to wander. I'm honestly not sure why I'm putting so much effort into writing this. I know your father; he'll find some way to stop that stupid fox. But I just can't help this strange sense of dread I feel, as if there's something important I'm missing, and everyting is going to go terribly wrong._

_Enough with the gloomy thoughts. I hope you've been living a happy life, Naruto. I'm trusting that your father is taking good care of you; he can be a bit serious and stern at times, but he's a good man. Or, if something has happened to him, too, I hope you've found other people who love you as deeply as I do. I'm sure you're growing up into a fine young man, and, in all likelihood, an excellent ninja, considering that your father is constantly praised as the greatest genius the ninja world has ever seen, and I'm the head of Konoha's ANBU and the last living member of the powerful Uzumaki clan from Whirlpool Country. Come to think of it, that damn (and no matter what anyone may tell you, feel free to use words like this to help express your emotions) fox was supposedly what destroyed my birth country and the rest of our clan. If that's the case, I really hope Minato finds a way to teach that bastard, or bitch, as the case may be, a lesson._

_I'm rambling again. Sorry about that. Anyway, if you have this letter, you should also have gotten a small wooden box. Inside it is something that you should find quite useful if you have chosen to be a ninja. It's a suit that has been passed down through the Uzumaki clan for longer than anyone can remember. The suit is infused with chakra, and you can use your own chakra to change its size (in other words, you can keep wearing it as you grow up), shape (say, for example you want short sleeves one day and long sleeves the next), color (obviously great for stealth purposes, though another use is to pick colors that stand out and try to be stealthy; if you can sneak up on someone while wearing bright orange, imagine how much easier it'll be if you change to black), and weight (something that's really useful for training purposes) in any way you want. Additionally, any tears or other damage can be mended using chakra, and if it gets completely torn up, you can remake the while thing as long as you have a single scrap of the original, though it will take a lot of chakra. In combat situations, you can channel chakra into parts of the suit to harden it; put in enough chakra, and it's better than any armor. In short, you'll never need any other clothes for the rest of your life. Also, the suit only reacts to those of Uzumaki blood._

_Speaking of Uzumaki blood, the thing that makes out clan so powerful is our ability to read out opponents and sense lies and deceit during combat. And it's an ability that only seems to get more powerful with each generation. If you're really lucky, my genes mixing with Minato's might result in the birth of a new bloodline limit in you._

_Right. Enough of all that serious stuff. I've said just about everything I can think of, and now I only have one thing left to say. I love you, Naruto, my son, with all my heart, and no matter what you may do in life or what kind of person you may become, I always will love you, no matter what, because I am your mother, and you are my son._

_Your mother, who loves you more than words can say,_

_Uzumaki Kushina_

On finishing the letter, Naruto felt... happy. He had long ago come to terms with his mother being dead and had never truly known her, so he felt no need to grieve. Just knowing that there had once been someone who had cared so much about him filled the blonde with a sense of joy even greater than what he had felt when Iruka-Oniisan had adopted him. And they were so very similar, too, sharing everything from handwriting to love of that god of foods known as ramen. He went back and read the letter a second time through, making sure he got everything he could out of it.

Then the boy turned to the wooden box. Removing his third blood seal of the day, Naruto reached inside and drew out a large grey jumpsuit that seemed to be made of some kind of light, shiny material, and which would have been far too big to fit in the box, had it not been for the space-enhancement seals drawn on the wood.

He tried channeling some chakra into the suit, and found that changing it around came as naturally as breathing. Quickly stripping himself naked, Naruto stepped into the amazing clothing, which he had shrunk down to a loose fit around his body, and colored his favorite colors; orange, with blue shoulders, and a red spiral on the back in honor of his clan. Since it was still late winter, and cold outside, the blonde wore long sleeves and pants that went down to his ankles, and he made sure the outfit was nice and warm.

After playing around with his mother's present for a few more minutes, Naruto remembered his earlier decision to try and reach the fox. Settling down comfortably on the ground, the blonde started meditating, reaching as deeply into himself as he possibly could, then going deeper still, to the very core of his being, where he instinctively knew the fox to be...

* * *

Naruto found himself standing, ankle deep in water, in a long that seemed to stretch on as far as the eye could see. It looked like a sewer somewhere; the place was lit by a dim brown light that appeared to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time; a series of large pipes ran along the ceiling, heading from the long, empty part of the hallway ahead of him and away in the darkness behind him. The part of the hallway behind him, the boy noted, seemed to have many narrower hallways splitting off of it in both directions, with sets of pipes branching off to follow the smaller passages.

The ninja-in-training could feel something emanating from out of sight ahead of him. The evil he could sense left Naruto in no doubt of what it was. He started walking forward.

Soon, the blonde found himself standing in a huge, tall room, with an equally huge, tall cage on the far wall. The bars of the cage were thicker around than the boy's body, and there was just enough space between them that he would be able to slip through if he wanted to. The only thing holding the enormous cage closed was a slip of paper with the kanji for "seal" on it, no bigger than Naruto's hand, and stuck exactly in the center of the cage.

Standing behind the bars was the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Its nine famed tails swung silently behind the beast. The fox's fur was a deep reddish-orange. Its giant claws were a dull silver and as sharp as razors. Naruto looked into the demon's blood-red, slitted eyes.

That was when he learned that the fox was not pure evil. It was evil, and hate, and cruelty, and destruction, and rage, and fear, and power, and cunning, and terror all rolled into one and given flesh. Deep, deep within it, however, the blonde could see the tiniest bit of honor. If the Kyuubi made a promise, it would agree to that promise no matter the consequences.

"**What do you want, kit?"** The kitsune's deep voice boomed throughout the room, its demand echoing off the walls until the sound faded away.

Naruto was not afraid. He knew, no matter how intimidating the demon appeared, it could not do anything to him. That was when the blonde realized that he didn't have the slightest idea what he wanted to ask the fox. He let his mind wander and found himself remembering his mother's letter.

"Are you male or female?" It was all he could think of at the moment.

To say the Kyuubi was surprised would have been an understatement. It just stood there for several minutes, not sure how to respond.

"**Female,"** came the eventual reply.

"Okay," was the boy's response. Suddenly, his expression turned serious. "Why did you attack Konoha!?" Naruto demanded.

"**That's a complicated story. Let's talk about you first."**

"Fine. What about me?"

"**You want power, right, kit? Power to protect the people you care about? Help me out a bit, and I can give you more power than you can imagine."**

"What d'you think I am, an idiot or something? NO! Besides, if you had been paying any attention to my life, you'd know that while I do want power, I want to _earn_ it. I don't like hand-me-outs," the blonde responded angrily.

"**Heh, just testing you, kit. As for what I've been doing, I've spent most of my time studying you from the inside. And your mother was right in her letter, you've developed a new bloodline limit."**

"I... what? A bloodline limit? Me? Seriously? What kind of limit is it? What does it do? Is it really cool and powerful? Tell me! Tell me!" As he talked, the speed and volume he was speaking at increased rapidly, and he started waving his hands about in the air.

"**Well, from what I can tell,"** Kyuubi said, after her container calmed down, **"your bloodline seems to deal with the souls and minds of yourself and others. It centers around a dojutsu that is constantly active and allows you to make a connection to the soul of everyone you make eye contact with, though the connection is stronger the more time you spend around the person, and it is at its highest power when looking into their eyes. The connection, when you are in close proximity to them, allows you to feel the emotions and feelings, enabling you to read them far more easily and quickly than should be possible. That's all I know for sure, but I've developed a few theories as to other abilities. Got all that?"**

"Yeah, so, basically, my eyes are actually a new dojutsu that no one knows about, and they're the reason why I always feel connected to everyone around me, why I'm so good at picking up on others' emotions, and why I can always catch when someone's lying. Now what about these theories you have? Wait, first let's think up a name for this new dojutsu." They both stood there in silence for a moment, Naruto thinking, and Kyuubi watching him think.

"Ah! I've got it!" the blonde exclaimed after a moment, "Shinkonkatsugan! (soul piercing-eye)" Pause. "Nah, too much of a mouthful. Let's shorten it to shinkagan. Yeah, I like that. Shinkagan it is. Now, about these theories."

"**All right. As for my theories, I want to see if you can strengthen the connection with chakra. I want you to look me in the eyes, then channel chakra through your... shinkagan... and across the connection into me."** Sensing no ill will or deception towards him in the fox's instructions, Naruto did as asked.

Suddenly, everything changed. He was no longer inside his body. He was no longer anywhere. All his senses, touch, sight, taste, smell, all of them, vanished in an instant. Yet he felt completely comfortable. All he was was a mix of thoughts, feelings, memories, and emotions. He could feel himself slipping into another similar entity, which he was easily able to recognize as Kyuubi.

He found himself inside the kitsune's mind searching through her very being as one might a pile of papers. Naruto found himself looking at the fox's memory of that fateful night over eight years ago. No, looking at wasn't the right way to phrase it. Experiencing it, more like. He was living the Kyuubi's attack on Konoha through the demon's eyes. And he found that his own mind was filled with an uncontrollable rage.

He wanted to hurt the demon bitch for all the pain she had caused. He wanted to make her suffer for what she did to his parents, the villagers, and Iruka-oniisan. But what would be the best way to go about it? Then an idea came to him. The vixen had practically given him free reign in her mind, and he wondered, if he was able to experience her thoughts, memories, feelings, and emotions, could he make her experience his? He noticed that the kitsune had no concept of, sadness, loneliness, isolation, loss, rejection, and grief. None whatsoever. These were all things that Naruto had in abundance.

So, he dredged up every single feeling, thought, and memory of said emotions he had from his short but painful life. Many of them from times he couldn't even remember in his normal state of mind. Then he reached further, along the connections into others' minds, searching for the same emotions within them and adding it to the cluster he had created. Then, Naruto violently shoved all these painful emotions straight into the heart of Kyuubi's very being.

The next thing he knew, the blonde had been thrust back into his body. His head was in so much pain, he wanted to scream. Thanks to his incredibly high pain tolerance, though, he was able to keep it down to a low moan. The caged kitsune, on the other hand, was howling, not only in pain, but fear as well. She had no idea what he had just done, but it had felt worse than anything that had ever happened to her before in her tens of thousands of years of life, and she was afraid.

"**WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST DO TO ME?!" **she screeched. The might Kyuubi no Kitsune, greatest demon known to the world, screeched in terror.

"Consider that payback for causing so much suffering to others during your life. I promise not to do it again as long as you don't do anything I dislike," Naruto said sternly. Then, in an instant, his entire demeanor changed, and the boy had a huge grin that spread across his whole face. "But that was AWESOME! I was, like inside your mind, and it was just... Wow."

Kyuubi had trouble believing that this grinning orange ball of energy was the same being who had just done that... whatever it was... that had been so terrible her mind had completely blocked it out, leaving only a gaping hole of fear. **"All right. You wanted to know about my attack on your village? Enter my mind again and find my memories. Start about twenty hours before I reached Konoha."** The demon fox couldn't keep the terror out of her voice at the idea of letting the boy in her mind again, but she, being a creature of honor herself trusted him to keep to his word. Naruto had no intentions of breaking that trust. He took a deep breath and went back into that strange state of being where he was able to slip into her mind...

* * *

_Kyuubi found herself unexpectedly aroused from her monthly nap. The first thing she noted was that she was not alone in her den. There was a presence, and a powerful one at that. Looking around, she was amazed to find that this presence was coming from a human. A measly little human. All she could tell about said human was that it was male and tall for its species. It was completely covered in dark clothing, such that not even its eyes were visible._

_She sent out a burst of killing intent towards the tiny being, effectively telling it under no uncertain terms to get out or be eaten. How she loved to play with her food! The human just stood there. In an instant, she lunged forward. It had been quite some time since she had last tasted juicy human._

_As she prepared for a quick appetizer before breakfast, she noted that her meal was making motions with its tiny hands. Hand seals; a ninja, then. Surely it wasn't so overconfident to think as to challenge her! Then, it completed the long, complex chain of hand seals and disintegrated in a puff of smoke._

_Suddenly, inexplicably, she had an irresistible urge to destroy something. Namely, the human village of Konoha. Somewhere in the back of her mind, the demon found this vaguely disturbing. She enjoyed destruction, yes, but she had never had a need for it on this level, especially so suddenly. Ah well, she'd think on it later. Right now she had a village to destroy._

_Twenty hours of running brought her in sight of her target. And already there was food waiting for her. Hundreds of little humans were running around, apparently trying to protect their home; they tasted delicious. She smelled the scent of the human that had been in her den. Ha. And it thought it could get away! With all the other smells mingling together, however, she was unable to figure out just where the scent was coming from. She noticed another pile of meat gathering around her and bent down for a bite. As she looked up, she saw a human child being carried away. Unfortunately, her mouth was still full, so she settled for looking into its eyes, rejoicing in the fear she saw there._

_Suddenly, her sense of smell was overpowered by the scent of toad. The next instant, a giant toad, nearly as big as her appeared in a puff of smoke. So the food was putting up a fight? This would be fun. She walked slowly towards the toad, temporarily ignoring the pest around her paws._

_On top of the toad's head, she saw three humans, two adults, one male and one female, and a newborn male. The adult male was tall, with dark blonde spiky hair and deep blue eyes, and was staring straight at her. The newborn, who looked like a smaller version of the other male, lying to his right on _

_the toad, was completely silent, staring at the female, who was staring straight back at the newborn. She,was lying on the other side of the man, staring straight back at the newborn; she had long red hair and bright green eyes. Both seemed to be ignoring everything else around them._

_Then, the male in the middle started rapidly forming a long series of hand seals. Deciding that she was done watching, Kyuubi lunged forward, intending to eat all three of them and take a large chunk out of the toad's head. But the male finished his seals before she had a chance, and Kyuubi's world exploded in pain._

_She could feel an impossibly strong force radiating from the male and felt herself being dragged toward him. She tried to resist, but even her immense power could not hold out against whatever this force was. Instinctively, she knew that the male was going to absorb her into himself, and that if he did, it would be the end of her._

_Then, something interrupted the male. This was her chance! She could still feel herself being pulled toward the three on the toad, but, using all her energy, she tried to free herself. She didn't make it. Instead, she had just managed to change the target of the technique. Instead of being absorbed into the man, it was the newborn that was absorbing her. Then, everything faded away into darkness._

* * *

"Woah," Naruto gasped, returning to his own body, "What was that all about? The Yondaime was trying to absorb you into himself? And I knew he was powerful, but that was unreal! And that woman... She was my mother. I'm sure of it. But what was she doing there? Then there's the mystery man in your den. He must have used some kind of powerful genutsu on you to make you attack the village. And that technique my father used, I recognized it. It was in one of those scrolls on sealing Ojiisan gave me for my last birthday. It's a forbidden technique that requires the life energy of a human sacrifice to seal one living being within another. The seal itself is created by the combined subconsciounesses of the receiver of the seal and the one being sealed to make a theoretically unbreakable seal."

"**Interesting, so this seal,"** the fox asked, gesturing to the cage, **"was designed by the two of us?"**

"Yeah. And no wonder it was so complex that I took five years to figure it out," the blonde answered.

"**No wonder indeed. But as for your other questions, perhaps another view of the events of that night would be helpful"**

"Another view?" Naruto questioned, "What do you mean? What other view?"

"**Yours, of course,"** said the kitsune succinctly, **"We're in your mind, so you shold have acess to all your memories"**

All right, but how?" the boy asked.

"**I don't know! It's your mind. Figure it out yourself." **was the demon's answer.

Naruto closed his eyes to think. "Hmm... Ah! I've got an idea!" And with that, he turned and ran out of the room.

Dashing down the hallway back to where he first entered his mind, the blonde thought to himself. _'Let's see... If my guess is right, these smaller passages off to the sides are my memories, and the further back along the passage I go, the earlier the memory'_

Going down one of the first side passages to test his theory, he soon found himself standing in front of a deep pool of water. In the reflection, he could see, not his own face looking back at him, but the night before, when he was saying goodbye to everyone before leaving the village. Going a god bit further down the main hallway, he tried another side passage and found what he eventually recognized as a day at the Academy some months ago.

The boy started sprinting down the main hallway once more, heading towards the earliest days of his life, those times he could not consciously recall. Eventually, he reached the very first passageway, and, not knowing what else to do, Naruto jumped into the pool he found there.

* * *

Darkness. And pain. The pain was slowly receding. It was strange, Naruto thought, reliving his first moments of existence with the mental benefits of his more-than-eight years of life. The first sound he had heard was his own crying. His first feeling that of wetness. His first smell that of the mix of liquid and blood he was bathed in. His first taste the same. And his first sight... When he first opened his eyes, Uzumaki Naruto found himself staring into the face of his mother.

Her eyes were radiating pure, unrestrained love and joy straight into him, and it was the most wonderful thing he had ever felt. His past self had clearly felt it too, as his response was to laugh, which only made more love and joy radiate from those stunning green eyes. Naruto was so overcome by happiness that he completely lost track of what was going on around him.

Upon recovering from the bout of happiness, Naruto found himself in a place he recognized immediately, though it seemed much larger now. Namely, the Hokage's office. There were three adults present and in the middle of a serious discussion: the Sandaime, the Yondaime, and a man Naruto recognized from pictures as Jiraya of the Sannin.His father had his back to the baby, looking at the other two.

"There has to be some other way..." It was the Sandaime.

"You think I don't hate this most of all? There's nothing else we can do" His father.

"I just... I don't want to lose you, brat." Presumably Jiraya.

"Well, Naruto..." the Fourth said, turning to his son. He likely said more, but Naruto didn't hear it.

His eyes... They were... Empty. There was nothing there, nothing at all. Again, Naruto lost track of the world around him.

The next thing he knew, he was in a hospital room, being held by someone. The room was empty, except for one other person. His mother. Lying on a bed.

"Minato?" she asked. Her voice was, surprisingly, a bit loud, and so filled with emotions that Naruto wouldn't have even needed the shinkagan to hear the surprise and confusion. "What are you doing here? I thought you were going to go stop the Kyuubi."

The voice that answered was the same one Naruto had heard in the tower, but only barely. It was the voice of someone completely insane. "Stupid woman. I can't believe how easy it was to fool all o you for so many years. 'great Hokage, protector of the village.' Ha! Ruling this village was just a stepping stone, and tonight! Tonight... I shall become a god." In an instant, he moved to her side and lifter her over his shoulder. Carrying mother and baby, he left through the open window.

Neither of them spoke. Even baby Naruto was silent as the man moved through the village at speeds that caused nothing but blurs to register in the newborn's undeveloped sight.

They had reached a spot in the middle of a forest. Sounds of screams and destruction were all around. The man put his two loads down on either side of him, cut his palm and made five handseals, before slamming his hands onto the ground.

"**Kuchiyose no Jutsu"**

A cloud of smoke, and all three were over three hundred feet up on the head of a gigantic toad. The Yondaime ran through another long series of handseals in an instant, and tapped the toad's head.

"**Kenbou no Jutsu"** (forgetfulness technique)

Baby Naruto, searching for a source of comfort amid all this chaos, found himself looking into his mother's eyes for the second time that day. She was looking right back at him. It seemed like an eternity that mother and child were just staring at each other, oblivious to everything around them, finding the comfort and love they so desperately needed in each other.

Then the man in between them disturbed their peace. He had let out a huge burst of energy, all directed at the nine-tailed kitsune in front of him, which the baby had somehow failed to notice previously. The fox was being pulled toward the man and quickly dissolving into red chakra that spiraled towards him. The chakra was fighting, but all it managed was to slow down. Then, Uzumaki Kushina somehow got to her feet and threw herself at her husband. The red energy was still being drawn inward, but it suddenly changed direction and sped into Naruto. Pain exploded throughout his tiny body, and he began to cry. Through tear-blurred eyes, he saw his mother slump down lifeless, and his father turned to her dead body, making a series of handseals, before tapping her on the forehead. Naruto's last sight before slipping into unconsciousness was of his dead mother transforming to be an exact physical replica of his living father.

* * *

Finding himself back in the hallway, Naruto felt numb. He couldn't accept what he had just seen. As much as he knew it was the truth, he simply couldn't bring himself to accept that his father had killed his mother and faked his own death, all for some crazy plan of using the Kyuubi to elevate himself to godhood.

Without really thinking about what he was doing, the blonde found himself walking back down the hallway, towards the fox. Upon reaching the cage, he told the demon what he had discovered. She pointed out that the Yondaime must have been the one in her den.

Not really sure of what else to do, Naruto left his mind. He dimly noted by the angle of the sun that only a few hours had passed. Then the shock of having had his world turned upside-down, shattered into pieces, and put back together again more times than he could count in less than a day hit him, and his brain shut down.


	7. Chapter 7

**chapter 7**

**healing**

The first thing Naruto noticed was that he was lying on something comfortable, likely a bed. That meant someone had found him and moved him, as his last memory was of being in the forest. The fact that he was in a comfortable bed meant that whoever had found was either kind or pretending to be kind. Smell was his next sense to return. He immediately caught the easily distinguishable scent of two older people, one male and one female, but neither of which he recognized specifically. Searching for their chakra signatures, he discovered both to have no ninja training. After a moment, the blonde opened his eyes.

"Hello there. Glad to see you're finally awake," called out the voice of the old man, "My wife and I found you in the woods unconscious a little ways from our farm, so we brought you here to see if there was anything we could do for you. My name is Toshiro, by the way."

Naruto turned his head to look at the man. He appeared to be a bit younger than Ojiisan and was dressed simply, in clothes that would not be out-of-place on a farmer. His eyes showed kindness and honesty. "Thanks for the kindness, Toshiro-san," the blonde replied, "My name's Uzumzki Naruto. I live in Konoha and am training to be a ninja, but, because of personal reasons, I had to get away from the village for a while. How long was I out for, by the way?"

"A ninja, eh? Well, that would certainly explain your backpack. The thing weighed more than you did. Anyway, it's been two days since we found you, though I don't know how long you were lying there before that," the old man said kindly, "My wife is in the next room making breakfast; I know she'd like to meet you." Turning to the door on the far side of the room, he called out, "Akkio, the boy's awake!"

Less than ten seconds later, his wife came through the door, carrying a steaming bowl of soup. She looked to be around the same age as her husband and was dressed similarly. "Ah, good to see your eyes open. Here, have some soup." Her eyes held the same honesty and kindness as Toshiro's.

Naruto's mouth had already started to water from the smell of the soup alone. "Thanks, Akkio-san. It smells delicious!" As the blonde ninja-in-training ate, Toshiro told his wife what he had found out about the boy.

After finishing eating, Naruto, wanting to repay the couple for their kindness, spoke up, "If you wish, I could help out around the farm. And you won't need to worry about providing food or bedding for me; I can find my own meals in the woods and am perfectly fine with sleeping outside."

"Nonsense!" exclaimed the older woman, "We have an extra bed and could do with the company. Anyway, your offer of help is greatly appreciated. Especially if you are, as you say, a ninja in training."

* * *

From that point on, Naruto's life fell into a sort of routine. He would wake up early in the morning and find some breakfast, usually a rabbit or other small animal. After eating, he would proceed with his morning exercise routine, increasing his weight seals, resistance seal, and the weight of his clothes as he felt necessary. Then, he would help Toshiro and Akkio out around the farm until the afternoon, often handling the more physically-intensive tasks, leaving the older couple to focus on the work requiring more experience. After everything was done on the farm, he would get some more training in, usually focusing on chakra control and trying to learn the henge and kawarimi jutsus. Then, in the evening, the three would have dinner together and talk before all going to bed.

Naruto found himself liking these people. As time went on, he told them more about himself and his life in Konoha, making sure to focus on the happy things, like Iruka-Oniisan and ramen. He also found out more about his hosts, how it had always been a dream of theirs to live together peacefully on a small farm, and how they had bought this place after saving up enough money.

The blonde also found himself progressing quite well in his training. After a few months, he was beginning to get the hang of the kawarimi jutsu, and, while he was still unable to perform henge, he found his chakra control improving greatly.

As more time passed and he continued to make no progress whatsoever on the henge, Naruto began to wonder if it was maybe the jutsu itself that was the problem. Though he didn't know as much about jutsus as he did seals, the blonde figured that he had learned enough from Iruka-Oniisan to understand something as simple and basic as the henge.

Simple was indeed the right word for the jutsu. It was just a single handseal and then some chakra manipulation to create an illusion of looking different than one's normal appearance. Naruto quickly found the problem: his unique, wild chakra was highly unsuited for the calm flow of chakra required for illusions. As a result, he realized, any genjutsu would require a minimum of five times more chakra control than was normally required, though more complex ones would need even greater levels of control.

Realizing that it would be at least three years before he had the chakra control he would require to perform the henge, the blonde decided to see if there was any way to refine the technique. Over half a year of experimentation led him to discover that adding an extra two handseals to the technique and slightly changing the way the chakra was manipulated would result in a version that not only was he capable of, but also required less chakra than the ordinary henge, only needed the level of chakra control used in kawarimi, and actually resulted in a change in his physical appearance, instead of merely the illusion of said change.

* * *

During this time, Naruto found himself opening up more to the older couple. He told them about how the villagers treated him, though the blonde shied away from mentioning the fox in his stomach. In return, Akkio and Toshiro told the boy about their children, all of whom had either left them or been killed by the bandits that occasionally plagued the area. They had not heard from any of the living ones in over twenty years.

In return for telling him about their sad history, Naruto, after having lived with the old married farmers for a bit over a year, eventually plucked up the courage to tell them about the fox and what he had learned of his parents and his birth that first day after leaving the village.

Until he told them about the Yondaime (he absolutely refused to call that man his father), the blonde had never seen either of the elderly couple angry. After he told them, he was forced to physically restrain them both from going out hunting for the man's head. Once the blonde managed to get through to them that trying to kill him would be akin to an ant trying to kill an elephant, they calmed down.

Over the next couple months, Toshiro and Akkio helped Naruto to deal with his harsh past, using the experience they had gained throughout their lives to comfort and support him. During these months, Naruto, for the first time ever, felt content with his life. Not completely happy, as he greatly missed Iruka-Oniisan and the others back home, but for once, he had a nice place to live, people he could talk to about anything, he was progressing well in his training, and, best of all, there was no one for miles around hating him for something out of his control. In short, life was good for one blonde-haired, blue-eyed, energetic ninja-in-training

He should have known it wasn't going to last much longer.


	8. Chapter 8

**chapter 8**

**rage**

It was during the middle of his morning run that Naruto realized something was wrong. The connection he felt to his caretakers thanks to his shinkagan suddenly started fluctuating. The moment he felt it, like something that was a part of him was simply vanishing, he headed toward the old couple at top speed. An adrenaline rush took care of the exhaustion from the workout, but with his distance from the farm, he knew it would be at least a half hour until he arrived.

His sensitive nose caught the scent of blood a good mile-and-a-half away from the house. He rushed into the structure, idly noting the signs of a large group of people having been in the area. Upon entering, his entire being was taken up by the sight of Toshiro and Akkio lying on the floor next to each other in pools of their own blood, their heads a couple feet from their bodies.

He screamed. And cried. And hit things. But not even the feeling of hundreds of tiny pieces of wood forcing their way into his knuckles as his fist demolished another wall was able to dull either the grief and pain of their deaths or the anger at having been able to do nothing. After the house was almost completely destroyed, the blonde started taking out his emotions on the nearby trees, punching and kicking them until nothing was left but splinters and leaves.

After nearly three hours of this, Naruto finally settled down a bit, mostly because he was too tired to do any more damage. As he slowly made his way back to what was left of the house, the blonde came to a decision as to what to do next. First, he would say his goodbyes to the elderly couple and give them a proper burial. Then, he would track down the bastards that had done this and make them pay.

* * *

It was now well into the afternoon, and Naruto was standing in front of two gravestones he had carved himself. At his feet were two mounds of recently-dug-up earth, and beneath the soil were the first two people he had seen dead since the day he was born. The blonde made a solemn vow to never again lose someone precious to him if it was in his power to save them. Then the tears came again. He wept long and openly, knowing that there was no one to hear him.

Another hour passed before he had calmed down again. Now, he decided, it was time to punish the ones who had done this. Leaving behind the bodies of Akkio and Toshiro, and the farm where he had spent the past year-and-a-half of his life, the ninja-in-training started jogging along the obvious trail left by his prey.

* * *

It was getting close to sunset by the time Naruto arrived at his destination. The trail led to a bandit camp; a quick bit of reconnoissance showed there to be one hundred forty two bandits, including two on guard duty outside the entrance, and the only way in or out was through a large wooden gate in a narrow valley; the entire camp was surrounded by high steep rock walls only ninja would be able to climb. The setting sun bathed everything in a reddish light. Perfect.

The blonde walked slowly up to the two guards.

"Wha'd'ya want, kid? Git outta here and go home!"

Naruto stared at the one who had spoken, and, though the boy spoke perfectly calmly, his eyes were burning with rage. "I'm here to kill every single one of you fucking bastards."

The man took one look at his eyes and ran inside the camp, closing the gate behind him. His partner, however, charged the boy, sword drawn. Idiot.

Naruto grabbed the man's hand, stopping the blade short an inch from his neck. A swift pull relieved the bandit of both his weapon and his right arm. After snapping the blade like a twig, Naruto put a fist through the man's gut assuring his death. One hundred forty one to go.

A single chakra-enhanced kick left the wooden gate in ruins, the blonde either not noticing or not caring that a red chakra had started to mix in with his normal blue, his canine teeth had grown in size, and his fingernails had turned into claws. A piece of the destroyed gate flew straight through the chest of the second guard, who was still running away. Turning to the rock wall to his right, Naruto poured as much chakra as he could into his arm muscles and the weight seal on his right hand. The following punch caused a rockslide higher up the cliff face, blocking the path where the gate had been and effectively trapping the bandits in their own camp. One hundred forty remaining.

By now, a group of twelve bandits had mustered up the courage to charge him. He reached up and grabbed the first two by their heads, crushing their skulls and sending blood and brain matter flying. For the next three, he used his claws to slit their throats, then he leapt at his eighth victim of the night, biting deeply into the man's neck and, with a sharp twist of his head, tearing out his throat. Of the remaining six, one he kicked in the chest, listening as he heard the man's bones shatter into tiny pieces, two he tore in half, one vertically and the other horizontally, two more he ripped the heads off of, and for the final one he put his hand through the man's ribcage and ripped out his heart. Now that he had deactivated his resistance seal and weight seals, everything around him seemed to be moving in slow motion. One hundred twenty eight left.

By this time, the bandits were all terrified. He could smell the fear rolling off of them, and it excited the blonde. He threw himself into a cowering group of twenty two bandits. Fifteen seconds later, they had all been reduced to pieces of meat, bone, and internal organs smaller than his fist. One hundred three.

The boy was now so coated in blood that the only thing on his body not red were his eyes, which had remained that firey, rage-filled blue. Naruto took his time with his next victims. The first one found every bone in his body, starting from the fingers and toes and slowly working towards his head, crushed into dust. It was quite a challenge to keep him alive until only the skull was left. For number two, the blonde took four kunai and pinned his limbs into a rock; then he tore off the ears, plucked out the eyes, stabbed the man in the gut and left him to bleed to death. His forty-second kill had actually tried to hurt him by swinging a tree branch into his stomach while he had been busy with the previous bandit; the blow had no effect whatsoever except for the branch breaking in half. The ninja-in-training rewarded the bravery with a swift, painless death from a strike to a nerve cluster, as they had been taught at the Academy. Nerve clusters would prove highly useful tonight, because while almost any ninja had enough chakra in their system at all times to instantly override anything done to a cluster, non-ninjas were an entirely different story. One hundred left.

It was around this time that the blonde realized he was actually enjoying the fear and killing. It was fun to see the looks on their faces as he snuffed out their lives. Naruto found himself standing next to a large boulder, approximately twelve feet in diameter, so he picked the rock up and flung it at a group of nineteen bandits about twenty yards away, crushing all of them. Down to eighty one.

At this point, six archers had recovered their wits enough to try shooting arrows. Naruto grabbed the projectiles mid flight and returned six shuriken. He then strode towards a group of fifteen more bandits, putting just enough chakra into his weight seals to make the ground shake slightly and cracks spread out under his feet with each step for additional intimidation. Their deaths were painful and violent. The blonde then turned to the center of the camp, where the remaining bandits were grouped around a large tent. Over half done, only sixty left.

For this last group, Naruto decided it was time to start cutting. He went back among the dead and found the two largest swords he could remember seeing. Returning to the tent, he took a moment to count. Only fifty nine; that meant the leader must have been inside. Good, he had something special planned for that one. Throwing himself at the group, the blonde began to slice and dice, reinforcing his blades with chakra to keep his powerful swings from breaking them. In only thirty seconds, there were just two living beings in the bandit camp, and pieces of the fifty nine he had just killed were lying on the ground, blood and organs spilling onto the grass. The swords Naruo had used started to melt from the force of the red chakra flowing through them, and he tossed the weapons to the ground. And then there was one.

Naruto walked into the tent. Inside was one large, well-armored bandit sitting on a wooden throne, cowering in fear of the blood-coated blue-eyed ten year old. Surrounding him were various treasures he had taken from his raids, some of which the blonde recognized from the farm. Then the blonde picked up the other scents coming from the man besides that of fear. He smelled the scent of blood, specifically the scents of Toshiro's and Akkio's blood. The killing intent that the ninja-in-training had been unconsciously letting off this entire time spiked drastically, to the point where it would have been enough to immobilize most chunin. Naruto stared the man right in his fear-filled black eyes and started gathering chakra to his shinkagan.

Slipping into the bandit leader's mind was one of the easiest things he had ever done. The man was so paralyzed by fear that he was unable to put up any resistance at all. Once there, Naruto reached out for the man's very soul and yanked it away, pulling it with him as he returned to his own mind.

The blonde found himself once again in that sewer housing the Kyuubi, but this time he was not alone. One hand had tight hold around the back armor of a terrified bandit leader, crushing the thick metal under the sheer force of the boy's grip. Naruto started dragging the man behind him, heading towards the demon fox's cage.

"Oi, Fox-face!" he shouted on reaching the seal room, "I've got a little present for ya!" And with those words, he hurled the man at the bars, giving him a good hard kick in the stomach when he at first failed to get through. He left his mind to the sound of screaming.

On returning to his physical body, the blonde took out the last of his rage and aggression on the now-unmoving body of the head bandit. When he finished, there were no pieces of the man left visible to a normal human eye, and the entire inside of the tent was coated red. Naruto felt all his energy leave him in a rush and fell asleep on the spot.

* * *

Upon awakening, the blonde found himself coated in dried blood, the results of last night's massacre all around him. His immediate reaction was to throw up. With the contents of his stomach now on the tent's floor, Naruto found the strength to stand up somehow. He could vividly remember every gory detail, and it disgusted him. But his feelings toward his actions were nowhere near as strong as his disgust on recalling how they had made him feel. He had felt _good_. The thought of terrorizing those people and ripping them to shreds had made him feel good, That couldn't have been right, and he knew exactly who to blame.

"_Kyuubi!"_ He had, in the year-and-a-half since meeting the fox, developed a way to converse with his inner demon mentally, instead of having to go to the sewer whenever he wanted to talk.

"**Oh, good morning, kit. I must say, last night was the most entertaining bloodbath I've witnessed in the last few thousand years, and the toy you gave me afterwards was.. fun."** The fox demon seemed almost happy.

"_Cut the shit. You were messing with my emotions, you furry bitch!"_

"**I wouldn't dare. All I did was lend you a bit of extra power, though you certainly didn't need much. You've grown quite strong the past few years."** The boy could sense nothing but truth in her voice. **"I think my favorite kill was the fourteenth. You know, the one where you ripped out his heart. I've always liked hearts. So tasty Then there was the forty-second, that one was-"**

"_Shut. Up."_

Knowing by his tone of voice that not doing as told would result in a trip inside her brain, the kitsune immediately stopped talking.

Naruto just sat there for several hours, trying not to feel sick with himself. It didn't work. Eventually, the blonde stirred himself to leave the blood-soaked bandit camp and head to to the nearest stream, where he gave himself a thorough washing to remove the blood. He could bring himself to excuse what he had done. They killed Akkio and Toshiro; they deserved it. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't excuse his own emotions Well, he'd just have to deal with it and hope that the disgust and guilt he was feeling now would be enough to prevent a repeat.

For the next couple months, Naruto absorbed himself completely in his training, both to get his mind off of what had happened and to help fulfill the promise he had made on the graves of two people he had become so close to. When he realized that the two year time limit he had given to Ojiisan was almost up, the blonde ninja-in-training headed back to Konoha.


	9. Chapter 9

**chapter 9**

**the return**

Early morning guard duty was something Izumo hated. It was boring; no one was even up this early, let alone going into or out of the village. Still, it was his job for now, and he was prepared to spend the first several hours of daylight in boredom, staring at the road leading out of Konoha.

That is, until a figure appeared on said road. Judging by the height, it was a child, probably around ten or eleven years old. As the figure approached, Izumo made it out to be a blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy wearing a bright orange jumpsuit with blue shoulders. But what caught his attention were the three whisker marks on each cheek. It seemed the rumors were false, and the brat wasn't dead after all. But no way was he allowing that thing into the village. When he approached, the chunin moved to block his path.

The demon child just looked at him with those stunningly blue eyes. "Either you move out of the way and let me through, or I'll sneak in and tell the Hokage that you're trying to prevent a citizen of Konoha from entering the village." That's when he remembered Hokage-sama, for whatever reason, actually _liked _this monster; he quickly moved aside to ket the abomination in, but not without one last glare, which was completely ignored.

And so, two years to the day after he left, Uzumaki Naruto had come back to Konoha.

* * *

The energetic blonde was now walking down the village's main road, ignoring as best he could the glares mixed with surprise at his return. He was trying to decide what to do next. He had to go see Ojiisan, both to let the old man know he was back and to inform him of everything he had learned about the Kyuubi and the Yondaime. There was a ramen banquet he needed to eat before the day was out; he still remembered his promise to Ichiraku-ojiisan. And of course, telling Iruka-oniisan that he was back would be necessary. They had become so close that, even though he was nowhere near the man, he could, thanks to his bloodline, sense his big brother's ever-present worry at his continued absence. Naruto made up his mind on his course of action.

"Oi! Ichiraku-ojiisan! Ayame-neesan!" the orange-clad loudmouth shouted, walking into the ramen stall, "I'm back!"

The ramen chef and his daughter looked up at the blonde's shout. "Naruto?" asked the old man, "My, how you've grown." He was right. The boy was now about 4' 7", slightly over half a foot taller than he had been when he had left, and, despite not even being eleven years old yet, his powerful, toned muscles were visible through his clothes when he moved.

"Glad to see you're back, Naruto," said Ayame, looking fondly at the boy she counted as a younger brother.

"I'm glad to be back. Anyway, I need to go let Ojiisan know I'm here. I'll be back at noon for lunch," the blonde grinned widely at the prospect of his favorite food. "You should probably start cooking." And with that, he walked out and headed for the Hokage tower.

* * *

Konoha's third Hokage was enjoying the quiet of early morning. Though, come to think of it, the entire village had been relatively quiet for the past two years with the absence of a certain blonde-haired ball of energy. He was using this time before the arrival of paperwork to read his favorite book, a small orange novel written by one of his former students.

At that moment, the door to his office slammed open. "OJIISAN! I'M BACK!" The deafening shout came from an orange-and-blonde blur that was hurtling across the room towards him. The old man smiled as Naruto enveloped him in a tight hug.

"Naruto!" exclaimed the aged Hokage, disentangling himself from the boy and quickly shoving the book he had been reading into a desk drawer, "It's so good to see you again. Let me get a good look at you." He held the ninja-in-training at eye distance, taking in the physical changes he had gone through since he had last seen him.

The blue eyes suddenly became serious. "Ojiisan, there's some things I have to tell you; things I found out while I was gone. Most of them are good things, but I also have to let you know something you won't want to believe, but you have to know it, because it concerns the safety of the village. And I need to tell you all these things in private." Hearing this, the Sandaime gestured, and the concealed ANBU left the room. A few handseals, and the room was safe from any prying ears.

"All right, Naruto. We're alone, so tell me these important things," said the old man. And the blonde began to talk, starting with letting him know about his mother's letter and his new clothes. Then, he went on to talk about his meeting with the fox and the shinkagan. To say that the aged leader was impressed with the bloodline limit would be like saying the general populace of Konoha wasn't nice to Naruto. His shrewd mind ran through the capabilities of those blue eyes and just what they would mean. The possibilities were endless: even the best of spies would be instantly revealed, due to the ability to detect lies; a few seconds of direct eye contact, and he could extract any information from anyone; the ability to read opponents would give him a huge advantage in any fight; and the connection he formed with others would let him know instantly if his allies were ever in trouble.

When Naruto told him that the Kyuubi was female, the Sandaime just stared at him in shock, both at the revelation itself and at how a little boy had calmly walked up to the greatest demon ever known and asked its gender. The Hokage was finding it quite odd, however, how the blonde was avoiding any mention of his father. The Naruto he remembered would have been jumping for joy at being the son of the man he had always considered his hero. "Naruto, surely you read your father's letter as well?"

The change in the boy's eyes was instantaneous. They went from a serious, soft blue to ice-cold, with a powerful hatred and anger burning behind them. Both stayed silent for nearly a minute, the Sandaime wondering as to the reason behind this drastic reaction, while Naruto was reining in his raging emotions. "Ojiisan," and his voice was the most serious the old man had ever heard from the boy, "There's something I have to explain to you, and the easiest way to do that would be to show you a memory of mine."

"Showing me a memory? What do you mean?" asked the Sandaime.

"I mean I'm going to use my shinkagan to take you into my mind and show you one of my memories." the boy said simply. The old man gave a nod of approval, and blue eyes stared into brown. After a few seconds, he felt something strange. Something in his mind that should not have been there. Then, there was a pulling sensation, and everything around him changed.

Despite having an idea of what to expect from Naruto's description, the surprise of suddenly finding himself in a sewer hit the aged Hokage, and perceptive blue eyes noticed it, even through a lifetime of emotional training. "It surprised me a bit the first time, too. This way, Ojiisan," said the boy, "unless you want to visit the fox first?"

"No," replied the Sandaime, "I should probably see whatever it is you wanted me to see first." And so Naruto led the old man down a long hallway, all the way to the end, where he turned down a smaller passage leading to a deep pool of water.

"This is the day of my birth, from my point of view. Step in," the future Hokage commanded to the present one. What he saw in that pool would forever change his views on someone he had, until that very moment, considered the greatest man to have ever lived.

Upon leaving the pool, the old man was stunned by the rush of powerful emotions: confusion, anger, sadness, worry. Seeing that he was in no fit state to meet the kitsune, Naruto stared into his eyes again and returned the Hokage to his body.

There was no sound in he Hokage's office for almost half an hour. The Sandaime was first to break the silence. "What did you do with his letter?" he asked curiously.

"Tore it to shreds and burned the thing. It was a quickly-scribbled message about how the Kyuubi was coming and he was going to die and how he was proud of me." The disgust was evident in the blonde's voice as he spoke. There was silence again, but only for a couple minutes this time.

"I'm assuming, knowing you, that you kept up with your training while away?" asked the aged leader, wanting to change to a less painful topic.

It worked. In an instant, the serious Naruto vanished to be replaced by the smiling bundle of excitement one couldn't help but love. "Yeah! I improved a lot! I'm much stronger and faster now, and my chakra control has gotten way better. And I can do the kawarimi jutsu no problem now. See?" said the ninja-in-training, trading positions with a pillow on the sofa without even using a handseal.

"Excellent, Naruto," the old man praised, smiling slightly, "I seem to remember that you were also having trouble with the henge. How is that going?"

The blonde's face fell slightly. "Not so good. My chakra is a bit different from most people's, probably because of that stupid fox, so any genjutsu needs several times more control for me than for anyone else. But," here his eyes lit up, and a huge grin spread across his face, "I experimented around and made a better version of the henge." And with those words, he started showing off his improvement to the jutsu, turning himself into kunai, a pen, Iruka-oniisan, a bowl of ramen...

Seeing this new jutsu, the veteran shinobi was amazed. He watched as its creator turned himself into a bird and started flying around the room. And all this could be done with just three handseals, some chakra manipulation, and a healthy dose of imagination. Calling for the boy to stop, he decided that every ninja in Konoha should learn this jutsu, and it would be added into the curriculum at the Academy. That Naruto was the first in hundreds of years of ninja history to invent such a simple yet, at the same time, superbly effective jutsu was mind-boggling.

At this point, the blonde noted the position of the sun, shouted something about being late for lunch, and rushed out the door.

* * *

Naruto was seated comfortably in his favorite ramen stall, alternating between wolfing down bowls of his favorite food and telling the other two occupants of the restaurant about his time away in a loud, happy voice. Ayame and Teuchi were greatly enjoying the talkative boy's presence, and not just because they were about to get enough money to last them a month.

When the blonde was on his eighty-sixth bowl, another customer entered the stall. As soon as he saw who the new arrival was, the ramen-eating machine stopped what he was doing and leapt at his big brother. "IRUKA-ONIISAN!" he yelled, hugging the man so tightly that his face began to turn blue. When he noticed this, Naruto loosened his grip.

Iruka's face was one of shock. He had just came to have lunch, only to find himself practically attacked by a _very_ familiar blonde. And only one person called him "oniisan." "Naruto!" the man exclaimed, surprise and happiness evident on his face, "When did you get back?"

"Just this morning," was the reply, "I went to see Ojiisan to talk to him about some stuff, and I've been here since noon eating lunch and talking to Ayame-neesan and Ichiraku-ojiisan." After speaking, he returned to his ramen and finished the bowl in five seconds flat. Ayame immediately put an eighty-seventh bowl in front of the boy.

"Well," said Iruka, "I was just coming here to have lunch myself. Why don't you tell me how you've been the last two years while we eat?"

And so they started talking together over ramen. Naruto told Iruka about his training and about Akkio and Toshiro and his time with them, leaving out their deaths and everything that had happened afterwards. And the chunin told his little brother about how he and his childhood friend Mizuki had become instructors at the Academy and about his time teaching. When they finished, it was late afternoon, and Iruka had had five bowls of ramen, while the blonde-haired bottomless pit had devoured one hundred sixty-three. It took every yen the man had on him to pay the bill.

* * *

Naruto was back in his apartment for the first time in two years, and he began unpacking his things. "Don't worry, Iruka-oniisan. I'll pay you back once I become a ninja." His big brother had just spent his last two months' paycheck on the boy's ramen splurge. The kind chunin looked down at him fondly.

"You, know, Naruto, when Academy classes start up again in a couple weeks, I could make sure you're in my class." Seeing the boy's scowl at this, he added, "Don't worry, I won't give you any special treatment because you're my little brother." The scowl changed to a grin.

"Thank you, Iruka-oniisan!" the blue-eyed boy shouted. Then he became serious. "Oniisan, there's some stuff I have to tell you." And so he went through the same process with his big brother as he had with the Hokage, telling him about his mother, his bloodline, Kyubi, and the Yondaime. Iruka's reactions were almost exactly the same as the old man's had been.

It was now late at night, and the chunin had calmed down from finding out the truth about the night he lost his parents. "Naruto, there's still something you're not telling me." The boy looked up at Iruka curiously. "What happened to that nice couple you had been living with? I've been around you long enough to read your emotions somewhat, even when you're trying to hide them, and the whole time you were talking about Toshiro and Akkio, you were sad and nervous, as if something bad had happened that you were afraid to talk about. So what aren't you telling me?"

The blonde hesitated for a moment before speaking in a quiet, emotionless voice, as if he needed to completely suppress his feelings to talk about it without breaking into tears. "They were killed. By bandits. I buried them, and then I followed the bandits' trail back to their camp. And then I trapped the bandits in their camp and killed them. All one hundred forty two of them. And I enjoyed the killing, and the fear." He couldn't hold back anymore and burst into tears.

The chunin bent down to hug him comfortingly. "Shh, shh. It's okay. You feel bad about it now, right?" At the small nod, he continued, "Then there's nothing to worry about. Remember what I said to you all those years ago about being a ninja? How you would have to kill at some point? Well, now you've proved you can when it comes down to it. And don't worry about how you felt while it happened. As long as you don't feel like that all the time, you'll be fine; and I know you don't, remember that story you told me about the time when you kept one of the bigger boys at the orphanage from stealing your food because you'd seen the server put something in it and it smelled funny? You have a good heart. You don't like it when people around you are hurt or killed. And I know it may sound a bit cruel, but that side of you that enjoys killing will be useful in your career as a ninja."

The crying had settled down. "Y-yeah. You're right Oniisan. I'm sorry," Naruto apologized.

"There's nothing to apologize about. You're young. People your age shouldn't have to go through even a hundredth of the things you've gone through. _No one_ should have to go through the things you've gone through. But you have, and you've come out far better than anyone else ever could," Iruka was quite proud about his little brother's strength of mind. "Come on. Let's get to bed."


	10. Chapter 10

**chapter 10**

**friends**

It was the first day of their fifth year at the Academy, and Hyuuga Hinata was, as usual, nervous. She was sitting in her normal spot in the back of the room waiting for Iruka-sensei to start the class. Loking around at her classmates, she saw the usual faces, but noticed that there were a few less this year. A few more had given up on becoming ninja, something she couldn't do no matter how much she might want to; her father would likely disown her out of shame.

At this point, Iruka-sensei started talking and pulled her out of her musings. By his tone of voice, he seemed annoyed at something. "Welcome to a new school year, everyone. It looks like _almost _everyone is here, so let's get started." At this, everyone except Nara Shikamaru, who had his head down on his desk and his eyes closed, sat up and paid their teacher full attention.

"Well, I _was_ going to start off by introducing a new student joining our class this year, but seeing that he is _late_... Anyway, let's move on to other things." No sooner had the chunin instructor finished speaking than the sound of pounding feet became audible from the hallway. Less than a second later, all eyes, even Shikamaru's, turned to the door as it slid open with a bang.

Hinata couldn't help but blush at the sight of the boy standing in the doorway, panting heavily and covered in sweat, as though he had just run a very long way. "Sorry I'm late, Iruka-sensei. I guess trying to squeeze my full morning workout into half the time didn't go as well as I had hoped." A small apologetic smile spread across his face, making the cute whisker-like marks on his cheeks stand out even more than they had a moment before. His hair, currently damp with sweat, was a dark shade of blonde and spiked out all over in an attractive way. His eyes were such a deep, clear shade of blue she felt she could get lost staring into them. And to top it off, his relatively tight black-and-orange clothes showed off a well-muscled body that none of the other boys could hope to compete with. The shy Hyuuga felt she had just found the love of her life.

"Ah, Naruto, there you are. Try not to be late again. Now come over here and face the class so I can introduce you." The new arrival did as asked. "Class, this is Uzumaki Naruto. He will be joining us for both this year and the following year. I hope you all treat him well and do your best to make him feel welcome."

While Iruka-oniisan was introducing him, Naruto took a moment to look around at his classmates. He noticed right away that nearly all the boys were looking at him with expressions of jealousy, and about half the girls had a sort of predatory look on their faces as they stared at him. Apparently he had forgotten to loosen his clothing after he had finished his exercises. Among the people he saw, eight stood out to the observant boy.

First to catch his eye was a quiet, brooding boy with black hair and equally black eyes, sitting off by himself to the side of the room. His shinkagan picked up a massive amount of anger and resentment coming off the dark boy, though not directed at anything in particular. Through it all, though, Naruto could see a good heart that seemed badly damaged and drowning in the negative emotions. He could also sense strong feelings of pride and superiority radiating from him. Right there and then, Naruto felt some sort of deep connection to the troubled youth and silently vowed that he would do everything in his power to help him.

Next was a girl with emerald-green eyes and long pink hair. One glance told him that she had feelings for the dark boy, though she likely wasn't aware herself of just how deeply these feelings extended. It looked as though she was very expressive of emotions close to the surface, though buried deep inside her he could see a firey determination and great strength of mind.

Sitting by the first girl was another, this one with long pale-blonde hair done up in a ponytail, pale blue eyes, and pale skin. She seemed like the kind of person who liked to take charge of a situation and was quite comfortable resorting to extreme methods to get what she wanted. A good bit of tension between the two girls was obvious, apparently over the boy, though the blonde's feelings for him were only skin-deep.

His attention now turned to a decidedly overweight boy with short brown hair and small, beady black eyes. Even as he sat in his seat staring forward, he was shoving chips into his mouth by the handful from a bag at his side. He appeared to be a very kindhearted boy who simply wanted to enjoy life and the pleasures it offered.

On looking at the next boy, his very first thought was "lazy." The boy already had his head down on his desk and looked to be half asleep. But his little dark eyes told the blonde that he was paying full attention to his surroundings with a very shrewd and intelligent mind, ready to help his friends if forced to.

The next person he took note of was a tall boy with short, thick black hair and wearing a heavy coat and small, dark sunglasses that completely covered his eyes. The boy was a mystery wrapped in an enigma. The only thing Naruto could really tell about him was that he based his life on cold, hard logic.

Fortunately, the second-to-last to catch the blonde's perceptive eye was infinitely more readable. He looked like a wild dog or wolf with his unruly black hair, rough appearance, large, sharp teeth and slitted eyes. He even had a small white puppy with him sticking out of the front of his grey jacket. He was brash, loud, and confident, maybe overly so, and it was clear that anyone who earned his trust would have his deepest loyalty.

Finally, Naruto's blue eyes turned to a shy, quiet girl in the back of the room. His mind started to fog over a bit, as she was the prettiest girl he had ever seen. Her pale, nearly white, pupil-less eyes and soft blue hair completely drew his attention, and the light shade of red on her face was quite... attractive. He found his brain a bit blurry when he tried to get a clear read on her emotions. It was easy to tell that she was shy and timid, and his shinkagan revealed that she had the lowest self-confidence of anyone he had ever met, but there was a great strength and need to prove herself shut away underneath the self-doubt. But when he tried to get a read on her feelings, his mind felt hazy. He resolved to talk to her as soon as possible to get to know more about her.

By this time, his introduction was complete, and Iruka-oniisan gestured for him to take his seat, which just so happened to be next to he brooding boy. "All right, class," said Iruka, entering sensei mode, "Now, just recently, a new and improved version of the henge no jutsu was created, and Hokage-sama had ordered that it be taught to all Academy students. Don't worry; it's not that different from what you're used to, just slightly more complicated and several times more useful..." Naruto smirked. He was enjoying his first day.

* * *

It was now time for lunch. Iruka had explained Naruto's improved henge to the class and called them up one by one to try it out; Naruto had taken the opportunity to note the names of the eight he'd picked out earlier. Out of the whole class, only Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Hinata had successfully performed the jutsu right off the bat, while Ino, Sakura, and Shino had required a second try and Chouji and Kiba a third. The rest of the class still hadn't managed it properly, reinforcing Naruto's feeling that they weren't cut out for ninja life. The blonde-haired boy went off in search the pale-eyed girl he had taken special note of earlier that morning.

"You're Hinata, right? Hyuuga Hinata?" he asked, walking up to where she was sitting underneath a tree.

Seeing the boy she had been thinking about all morning walk up to her and ask her a question, the Hyuuga heiress blushed profusely. "Y-yes, that's m-me. A-and you're N-Naruto-kun, correct?"

He noticed that she had already added a "-kun" to his name. "Yeah. Would you mind if I sat with you, Hinata-chan?" The blonde couldn't help but smile slightly at the thought of calling her Hinata-_chan_. It just sounded so... right.

The shy girl blushed even deeper at his request and the suffix. "O-of c-course Naruto-k-kun." And so the two started talking; or, more like Naruto started talking while Hinata would occasionally say a word or two. He told her about himself and his life, but nothing too upsetting or personal, and she would occasionally stutter out a brief comment. When he asked her questions about herself, she would give a short, stutter-filled answer. This continued throughout lunch, and during recess, Naruto left to meet some of their other classmates who had gotten his attention, thinking about how much he had enjoyed just sitting by the quiet girl and trying to come up with ways to boost her self-confidence.

The first person he ran into was Sakura. Their conversation went something like this:

"Hi, your name is Sakura?"

"Yes, you're that new boy Naruto, aren't you?"

"Yeah, that's me. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, but I'm busy looking for someone right now. Sasuke-kun! Where are you? Sasuke-kun!"

The next person he found was Kiba. The boy stood out from anywhere in the area with his strong scent of dog and loud voice. The two started talking and quickly found themselves good friends, with their similar personalities and shared joy of mischief. It was through Kiba that Naruto got the idea of pranking people, and his devious mind immediately started coming up with a list of people who needed to be pranked, what sort of prank would work best on them, and how to pull it off. During their conversation, Kiba's competitive nature came out and he challenged his newfound friend to a contest of strength, which the blonde won without even trying, thanks to the rigorous physical training he put himself through.

After finishing up talking to Kiba, Naruto saw Shikamaru and Chouji lying on the ground next to each other, sharing a bag of chips and watching the clouds. He took quite a liking to the odd pair. When he learned that Shikamaru enjoyed go and shougi, both of which he had learned while living with Akkio and Toshiro and had found himself to be quite skilled at, they agreed to play a couple games together after school. Chouji, on the other hand, was the first person he had ever met, excluding his mother, to share his love of ramen. They spent a while discussing the different flavors and how they compared to each other. Chouji, though, being a connoisseur of all foods and not just the noodles of the gods, insisted that the blonde come with him sometime to his favorite barbecue restaurant, an offer Naruto readily agreed to. Noticing that recess was drawing to a close, the energetic boy determined to meet Ino, Shino, and Sasuke the next day.

* * *

In the afternoon, Naruto tried and failed to pay attention to a history lesson about the Third Great Shinobi War. The constant mentions of the Yondaime forced him to either tune out the lecture entirely or risk exploding in front of the entire class about how the man so many held in such high regard was actually a power-obsessed, evil, deceiving, fucking bastard who had killed his mother and made his life a living hell and who he would gladly rip to pieces if he only could.

Following the lesson, they all went outside for taijutsu training with Mizuki-sensei, whom Naruto took an immediate dislike to, though some instinct told him to hide this fact. During the training, the entire class learned about Naruto's strange problem of being incapable of learning any traditional taijutsu styles and about how his strength and speed were great enough that it really didn't matter, as he won every spar with ease. Interestingly enough, he never found himself paired up with Sasuke, which was a bit of a disappointment, as he could tell by watching the dark-haired boy that he would have been the only one in the class to present a challenge.

At the end of the day, Naruto saw the parents and family of his new friends and, using his shinkagan, made an educated guess as to their reactions to his presence. Nara Shikaku, Akimichi Choza, and Yamanaka Inoichi, fortunately, all seemed to treat him as a human being, as did Aburame Shibi and Inuzuka Tsume. Hyuuga Hiashi simply glanced in his direction with a look that screamed "I have no need to bother with you, demon filth" and led his daughter away with a frown on his face, not even sparing her the glance he had given Naruto. Suddenly, her non-existent self-confidence made much more sense. The Hanuros were, in some ways, even worse. While Sakura's father walked right up to him and said straight out that if he ever caught the blonde so much as trying to talk to his daughter, he would personally beat the boy to within an inch of his life, Naruto's sensitive hearing picked up the pink-haired girl's mother ordering her daughter to never interact with him in any way. Oh well; at least he had made some friends finally. It felt good, he decided, to have people his own age he could talk to. In all of this, he noted that absolutely no one came for Sasuke, and the boy simply wandered off on his own.

Naruto met up with Shikamaru to remind him of their agreed-on games, and the lazy boy invited him over to his house, advising to watch out for his mother, as she was "troublesome." Upon arriving, the blonde couldn't help but agree with his friend's assessment for once. The lady, though quite kind and caring at heart, was very bossy and seemed to enjoy nagging her lazy husband and son about the smallest things.

Two games turned into several as the afternoon wore into evening, then night. The boys learned that Shikamaru would consistently win at shougi, though Naruto forced him to play to his fullest, and when it came to go, their positions were reversed, with Naruto turning out the victor by anywhere between a half to five-and-a-half moku. All in all, it was an enjoyable conclusion to an enjoyable day, leaving Naruto feeling the best he'd ever felt as he lay down to bed that night.

* * *

The second day at the Academy wasn't very different from the first. Naruto arrived a few minutes late again, once again covered in sweat after trying to shove his morning workout into a time frame too small for it. This time, though, he had remembered to make his clothes looser on his body before entering the classroom to avoid the looks he had received the last morning. As soon as he had arrived, Iruka passed out a written test on basic chakra thoery, something the blonde knew as well as the back of his own hand. He still failed horribly, though; proof that his inability to concentrate on paper tests and formulate his answers into written words was as strong as it had been two years previously.

When it came time for lunch, he again spent it with Hinata-chan, talking to her a bit more in an attempt to help her overcome her fear of speech. He didn't feel they knew each other well enough yet to bring up whatever family problems she had.

During recess, the blonde first attempted to hold a conversation with Shino, before confirming that the boy was only slightly more talkative than a rock and leaving him to his own devices.

Ino, on the other hand, he discovered, talked. A lot. The downside was that the only things they had in common were the similar eye and hair colors. He did, however, manage to learn quite a lot about flowers, clothes, how handsome Sasuke-kun was, hair care, and "forehead-girl,"as she had dubbed her main rival for the dark boy's nonexistent affections.

Finding Sasuke would have proved slightly hard, were it not for his constant stream of negative emotions that the shinkagan picked up as well as any scent. The boy was off by himself in the upper branches of a tall tree, and Naruto leaped up to join him.

"Hi."

No response

"Sasuke? What are you doing up here all by yourself?"

Still nothing.

"Jeez, you could at least answer me."

Sasuke stayed silent.

"I'm not leaving you alone until you speak to me."

The boy pretended he wasn't there.

"I'd like to be a friend to you, if you want me to. You don't seem to have any."

The reaction came in the form of rapidly-changing emotions. Naruto's keen perception picked up a drastic spike in the sadness and anger, along with the addition of a strong desire, which was quickly quenched by self-hatred and... fear?

"Anyway, what kinds of things do you like? From what I've seen, you're a pretty good ninja."

Apparently the boy had received so many compliments that he was immune to praise.

Naruto was about to try something different when the bell rang, signaling the end of recess. "Don't think you're off the hook. We're continuing this after classes end."

The rest of the day consisted of another history lecture, fortunately on the Second Hokage this time, followed by taijutsu practice again. Yet again, the blonde was paired up with everyone but Sasuke.

Wanting to make good on his promise to Sasuke, Naruto told Iruka-oniisan that he would be home some time later and left after the dark-haired boy.

"I told you I wasn't going to leave you alone."

Sasuke, now obviously annoyed, tried running away over the rooftops.

Naruto matched his pace easily. "Why won't you at least say something?"

He kept running, but there was a slight change in his emotions, and Naruto realized he was now going to a certain destination.

The blonde followed along in silence, thwarting the many attempts the other boy made to lose him.

Eventually, they arrived at a wooden pier, extending a few yards out into a vast, scenic lake.

Sasuke walked down to the end of the pier and started performing a jutsu.

Naruto took careful note of the handseals and the way the boy gathered his fire-natured chakra to his lungs, just as he had paid attention to Ojiisan's soundproofing jutsu the day he had come back. Even if he couldn't use them yet, it was good to know how they worked.

"**Katon, Goukakyu no Jutsu"**

A huge fireball shot out of the Uchiha's mouth and sped across the lake.

"Pretty impressive. I can only do henge and kawarimi right now. Then again, my chakra control sucks."

Sasuke said nothing.

Naruto decided it was time for drastic measures and instantly changed from playful to serious. "Why are you so afraid of the idea of having a friend?"

The other boy was stunned momentarily with the ease his emotions had been read. "Get away from me." Black eyes looked into blue with a glare that would have sent any of their other classmates running in fear.

Having finally achieved his goal, Naruto smiled slightly. "That wasn't so hard now, was it? See you in class tomorrow, Sasuke-teme." And he left.

* * *

As their time at the Academy passed, Naruto developed his relationships with his classmates.

Just being with Hinata-chan daily and talking to her was eventually enough to get her used to his presence and speak without stuttering or twiddling her fingers. As she began to talk more, he learned about her family situation, with her father who despised her for being "weak," her sister who disliked her for having been born first, and her cousin who just hated everyone. Her problems stemmed mostly from her strict father being unsupportive of her because he viewed her as inferior; Naruto decided to help her in her training in whatever ways he could.

Since outside of the Academy she was always cloistered away in the Hyuuga compound, he wasn't able to help her as much as he would have liked, but after learning that her family's fighting style relied almost solely on a unique brand of taijutsu supported by the Hyuuga bloodline limit, Naruto taught her how to make the same weight seals he had applied to himself and advised her on their best placement and usage for increasing her speed.

He also learned that despite her shy and timid nature, the pretty girl quite enjoyed talking once she felt comfortable enough and seemed to find having someone listen to her to be a refreshing feeling. She would talk near-endlessly about what she could remember of her mother, who, from her description, had been one of the kindest, most caring people in the world. Hinata herself seemed to have inherited this trait, along with many others, from the woman who had given birth to her. After all, blue hair was not normally seen in the Hyuuga clan.

Naruto also became closer to his other friends. He and Shikamaru would often be found playing go or shougi together, and they grew to enjoy their matches, being the only people they knew to present a decent challenge to one another. He also became closer to Chouji, frequently going out to eat with the boy and his family. The blonde found himself greatly enjoying the barbecue restaurant his friend had told him about on their first meeting, and the two would occasionally get into eating contests, which the larger boy would consistently win, though not by much. Except for when the food chosen was ramen; in those cases Naruto always turned out the victor by a large amount.

The blonde also began to enjoy his time spent with the wild Kiba. Their first prank victim was one of the store owners who refused Naruto services. The man would forever wonder just why he woke up one morning completely bald. The two also found each other to be good sparring partners whenever Naruto increased his resistance seal enough to give the dog boy a chance.

With Shino, Naruto made little progress. While he liked the mysterious boy well enough, his attitude and lack of speech resulted in a lack of interaction between the two.

As for Ino, the blondes found themselves liking each other despite the total lack of shared interest. Naruto had respect for the girl's authoritative attitude, and she in turn was in awe of his constant optimism and unmatched determination. On the topic of the Uchiha, however, she proved completely immovable. No matter how often he clearly explained to her that it wouldn't work and her reasoning for chasing him was completely wrong, she refused to hear a word of it, seemingly deaf to any insults to her "precious Sasuke-kun."

On the topic of Sasuke-obsessed people, Sakura had apparently taken her mother's warning somewhat to heart, being rude and condescending to the blonde boy those rare times she acknowledged his existence.

And with Sasuke-teme himself, Naruto had made it a personal goal to get at least one verbal response out of the brooding boy each day, no matter how far he had to go to do so. He had studied up on his classmates and their families outside of the Academy and was surprised to find out that out of the eight he had noted the first day, all but Sakura were from prominent ninja clans. He had learned of the Uchiha Massacre, of course, but the details were classified and, while he was sure Ojiisan would tell him if he asked, he didn't feel right bothering the old man about it. Nevertheless, having a greater understanding of the source of Sasuke's pain made Naruto all the more determined to help the boy somehow.

As far as Academy classes went, the blonde boy outperformed everyone else when it came to practical application of skills, but his written work was still the worst in the class. And due to the most ridiculous grading system ever conceived, this placed him firmly at the bottom of the class, below even Shikamaru, who only put in just enough effort to keep his mother from shouting at him.

In the area of detecting and dispelling genjutsu, their class was the best the Academy had ever seen. Despite not yet having his sharingan, Sasuke's Uchiha blood gave him an easier time detecting genjutsu than the average ninja. Ino's knowledge of the human mind required for her family's jutsu gave her a noticeable advantage in that area as well. Kiba and Akamaru's heightened sense of smell could break any illusions that did not target the nose strongly enough. Shikamaru was able to spot most genjutsu through his blistering intelligence alone. Sakura was similar, using her book smarts to detect even the slightest sign of something wrong. Shino's bugs proved to be all but immune to the most subtle of the ninja arts. Hinata's byakugan cut through all but the most powerful illusions with ease. And Naruto learned that another ability of his shinkagan was that it made any and all genjutsu completely ineffective against him.

In taijutsu, the whole class improved steadily except for Naruto, who had to settle for increasing his speed and strength to levels well beyond that of his classmates. Whatever the reason might have been, Mizuki-sensei always made sure he and Sasuke were never matched up together.

Their year learned one more more jutsu, namely bushin no jutsu, which created an illusionary replica of the user to serve as a distraction during battle. The fact that it was a genjutsu, however, rendered Naruto incapable of performing it, though, and unlike the henge, which he now had sufficient chakra control to execute the normal version of, any sort of improved version of the jutsu was impossible without inventing something entirely new, a feat the blonde was not yet capable of.

He also pointed out to his Oniisan the eight classmates who had caught his eye, and the chunin instructor readily agreed with his assessment that they would be the only ones out of the lot to succeed as ninja. Time went by, and eventually it was the day before graduation


	11. Chapter 11

**chapter 11**

**graduation**

Naruto had been preparing for this day for weeks. With his graduation from the Academy coming up, he was going to be an officially-recognized ninja and legally an adult. The boy knew that once he became a genin, not only would he have far less free time, but he would have to start acting more responsibly; in short, his pranking days were coming to a close. And Uzumaki Naruto had decided to go out with a bang.

He got up well before the sun rose and left the bedroom silently so as to not wake Iruka-oniisan. Running chakra through his clothes, the boy was now wearing tight black instead of his previous sleepwear. With a mischievous smirk on his face thinking about just what he was about to do, the blonde grabbed a scroll from underneath the sofa cushion. Sealed inside it were a few thousand large cans of paint he'd been stockpiling, mostly orange. Naruto then moved silently around the room, taking other various supplies from their hiding places.

Choosing to forego his usual morning exercise routine for the first time in years on account of the time it took, the soon-to-be ninja released his weight seals and resistance seal; He had a large amount of ground to cover, a huge amount of work to do, and not a lot of time to do it in. His body suddenly felt like it weighed nothing at all. Then again, seeing as he was used to moving around under the equivalent of about twenty-six tons, half from the weight seals and half from the resistance seal, his firmly-muscled 121 pound body practically was nothing. The blonde sped to the window and leapt from the apartment without a sound. His first objective was to make sure no one was able to interfere with his work.

* * *

Konoha's residents awoke to a strange sight. All throughout the village, there were seemingly-random stripes of bright orange several yards wide covering everything in their path: houses, roads, trees, buildings, _everything_. Looking around, people soon started to notice that the Hokage monument had been vandalized as well.

The Shodaime could be seen glaring at his successors with eyes a darker brown than the rock he was made of. He was also pouting heavily with shockingly pink lips.

The Nidaime had an endless flow of light blue tears running from his eyes, a stream of bright green mucus coming from his nose, and white drool was dribbling from his mouth.

The Sandaime got off relatively easy. His exaggerated brown eyes were looking downward towards an exact painted replica of an orange book covering the bottom of his face, a book very familiar to Konoha's adult population for various reasons, and two small trickles of blood were falling from his nostrils.

The Yondaime was the most extravagant. Each spike of hair on his stone head was painted a different color in a sort of rainbow effect. His eyes, painted a dark red, were wide open in surprise. His face was completely covered in a pattern of white and red paint reminiscent of a clown. And his bright red lips filled with perfect shining white teeth were spread in a wide grin that seemed almost maniacal.

And painted on the bare cliff next to the Hokages was another face, one that had been painted with far more care and detail than the decorations on the already-existing faces. Spiky dark blonde hair adorned the head of this new addition. His large round eyes were a deep blue in color. He had tanned skin, and his mouth was spread in a huge, happy grin, accenting the whisker-like marks on his cheeks.

Those with good eyesight could make out the figure of a boy, about 5'2", standing on top of the monument, and those with excellent eyesight could make out that his face matched the new one on the mountainside.

Naruto was surveying his handiwork, his clothes now the usual bright orange and blue jumpsuit. While he couldn't see the Hokages very well from here, it offered the only clear view of just what had happened in the village. From this angle, the streaks of orange could be seen to be crisscrossing and interconnecting in an interesting way. They were forming letters. The message read "UZUMAKI NARUTO IS THE GREATEST NINJA EVER." He was quite pleased with himself. Now it was time for the fun part.

The blonde saw movement. Six ninjas were already coming his way. Just before they converged on his location, the boy leapt up and forward, sending himself flying into the village. After what he counted to be approximately ten seconds of falling freely through the air, Naruto landed on the road several yards in front of the Hokage tower, his knees bending a bit to take the force of the impact. His pursuers, having seen him jump, had opted to take the slower way down, making several smaller leaps along the stone faces. Instead of waiting for them, the prankster dashed off into the streets.

* * *

Naruto was having fun. He had been running through the village evading capture for nearly five hours now. Using a combination of speed, stealth, clever use of henge, intimate knowledge of Konoha's layout, and a multitude of harmless but hilarious and effective seals he had invented and placed around the village while painting, with effects like stopping the movement of anyone in a five yard radius for ten seconds and turning their hair orange, he had thrown off all pursuers from enraged civilians to annoyed ANBU.

The blonde had just dodged a group of four genin, running off around a corner to lead them the wrong way and then doubling back behind them faster than the poorly-trained ninjas could see. Chuckling at his successful trick, the boy froze. His shinkagan had just sensed Iruka-oniisan right near him and _very_ angry. His big brother's chakra signature was coming from directly behind him. Naruto turned around slowly to face his oniisan's wrath.

"Naruto! What do you think you're doing?! Class started an hour and a half ago!" The man had even pulled out his scary head jutsu, which allowed him to temporarily increase the size of his head and volume of his voice to insane proportions. Made especially for taking care of rowdy students.

The blonde grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck. "Hehe. Sorry, I lost track of time. I'll go to class now." With those words, he made a short series of handseals and vanished in a puff of smoke. Iruka sighed and headed back to the Academy, knowing the fun-loving boy would already be there.

In a second puff of smoke, Naruto appeared in the middle of his classroom, right on top of the teleport seal he had placed there while setting everything up. The teleport seal was another invention of his, but it unfortunately had several limitations that made it nowhere near as useful as the name would suggest. Firstly, it could only be used once. Secondly, it would only work over a certain range, determined by the amount of chakra placed into the seal. And finally, said amount of chakra was large; the entire chakra capacity of an average genin would serve to give it a range of about five feet.

His classmates' reactions to his appearance varied. Hinata-chan blushed a bit and said she liked his face on the mountainside. Kiba congratulated him on the amazing prank. Shino commented that a great deal of effort, planning, and work must have gone into his paintings. Sasuke said, "You're late, dobe." Sakura shouted that he was a stupid idiot. Chouji offered him a bag of chips, knowing he must not have eaten. Shikamaru returned his head to his desk, muttering "troublesome." And Ino thanked him for not painting the family flower shop. In his plans, Naruto had made sure to avoid redecorating the residences of his friends.

"Iruka-sensei should be here in forty-three seconds," said the blonde while walking to his seat.

Forty-three seconds later, an irate chunin instructor walked through the door. "Okay. Now that we're all here, finally, we are going to do a review of the henge no jutsu. _Both_ versions." He glared straight at Naruto.

When it was his turn, the mischievous boy walked calmly to the front of the class.

"**Henge no Jutsu"**

Standing in the place of the blonde boy was a blonde girl, entirely naked, and practically screaming "ravish me" to any adult males who set eyes on her. Iruka stared in shock for a full five seconds before crumpling to the floor with blood flowing from his nose. Naruto, still in his transformed state, said, "That's for using your scary head jutsu on me." He then changed back into his normal self, used the genjutsu version of henge to turn into Sasuke and gave his teacher a perfect imitation of the dark boy's glare before changing back and returning to his seat.

* * *

"Okay, Naruto. Now clean this up." The Academy was finished for the day, and Iruka was standing in front of his little brother with a stern look on his face.

"Not right now. I skipped my training this morning to be sure I had enough time to do everything, so I wanna go make it up first," the blonde youth responded.

The chunin sighed. It was time to try a different tactic. "All right, how about this? If you cam clean all this up in under one hour, I'll treat you to a meal at Ichiraku's." Getting rid of all the paint in under an hour would have been impossible, even for a squad of jonins.

A small smirk spread across Naruto's face, and Iruka felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. "Deal," said the blonde. He made a string of thirty-one handseals, and all physical traces of his prank vanished completely. The smirk widened to a grin. "I specially prepared all the paint by putting seals on the paint cans. The seals transferred a tiny bit of chakra into the paint, and those handseals activated the chakra, obliterating the paint while leaving everything else intact. Now let's go get ramen!"

Knowing he had been tricked again, Iruka started walking toward the blonde's favorite ramen stall, taking out his wallet as he went.

* * *

Forty-two bowls of ramen and a very delayed morning training routine later, Naruto and his big brother were sitting in their apartment for what would likely be the last time. The blonde had decided that he would move out as soon as he was officially a ninja and had already found the best apartment available to him, a small, run-down place that was fortunately near Ichiraku's. It wasn't that he didn't like living with the man; he just felt it would be better, with the odd hours he would likely have due to missions, for them to live separately.

Right now, though, there was something he wanted to discuss with the chunin. "Iruka-oniisan, Mizuki-sensei is plotting something. He was sending off weird emotions all day."

The boy had long ago told him about his shinkagan's assessment of Mizuki, and while he had at first not wanted to believe anything bad about his former friend, a closer scrutiny of the man had convinced Iruka. "What kind of something?" he asked seriously.

"I'm not sure, but I think he's going to use one of the students to fail the exam for whatever it is." Naruto was equally serious, if not more so.

"Taking advantage of a depressed student? I can't believe I was ever friends with a man like that. Let's go tell Hokage-sama." The chunin was angry at the thought of one of his students being used in a doubtless illegal and likely dangerous scheme.

"We can't," was the blonde's reply, "We have no legal proof, so Ojiisan can't do anything. That's why, tomorrow, I want you to make sure I have to do the taijutsu section of the exam and have the bushin no jutsu for the final part. That way I'll fail, he'll use me, and we'll be able to get out proof. Then we can explain the situation to Ojiisan and I'll still become a genin anyway."

During class that day, Iruka had explained the structure of the exam, as the Academy had decided to change it up that year. First would be a fifty question written test over everything they had ever learned. That would count for twenty points. The next section would be randomly selected for each student and would either be stealth, forcing the students to go through an obstacle course without setting off any traps, genjutsu, needing them to detect and dispel the illusion, or taijutsu, where they had to properly demonstrate the various moves and stances of one of a number of taijutsu styles. This section would be worth ten points and graded on performance. Following that would be a tournament consisting of one-on-one matches between all the students. Points were determined by ranking, with the winner getting thirty. The final section would be to perform a randomly-selected one of the three jutsus taught at the Academy. This was a pass/fail section and worth fifteen points. Forty points would be required to pass.

In short, if Naruto got the taijutsu and bushin, he could fail the exam without seeming suspicious; purposely making a mistake in anything would likely put Mizuki on guard.

"A-are you sure, Naruto?" Iruka wasn't so sure he liked the idea of placing the blonde in harm's way.

The determined look on the boy's face was answer enough. "Don't worry. I'll be fine."

* * *

So far, everything had gone exactly according to plan. Naruto's acting was excellent; if he hadn't known the truth, Iruka, who could read the boy better than anyone else in the world, would have thought he was actually surprised and upset to have gotten taijutsu for the second part of the exam. It was now the tournament, and everyone knew the final match would be Naruto and Sasuke. When Hinata made third, only just barely losing to the Uchiha, and Shikamaru fourth, however, it had come as quite a surprise to many.

Naruto realized with a jolt that this would be his first time fighting the dark-eyed boy. This would likely be a difficult fight to win without lowering his weight seals or resistance seal. The two boys faced each other across the room, Naruto with his usual confident expression, and Sasuke with a small smirk of superiority. Well, if he was going to be arrogant enough to underestimate him like that after all the times the blonde had demonstrated his skill in front of the entire class, this fight would be all the easier.

His best bet would be a quick finish, before the Uchiha realized the blonde would pose a serious threat. Besides, with Sasuke's high speed and fast reaction times combined with the gaping holes in Naruto's defense from the lack of any sort of taijutsu style, every second the fight dragged on prolonged the chances of a kunai against his throat...

The throat. That was it. Fights, especially amongst beginners, almost invariably started with a brief close-combat engagement, so he would simply need to get a hand around his opponent's neck and force a forfeit. The problem was that, unless Naruto decreased his seals, Sasuke would see it coming and dodge. To counter that, though, the blonde could simply use the ability he had discovered six months ago and adjust to the dodge. Yes, this fight would be over in less than a second.

The ability he had found was that, by enhancing the chakra flow to his brain, Naruto's thought processes sped up tremendously, all his senses became several times more powerful, and the world, including Naruto himself, seemed to move in slow motion as a result. The downside was that he, currently, could only use the ability for twenty seconds maximum. Any more, and his head would start to hurt, followed by a loss of consciousness when he returned his chakra flow to normal. He could only assume that going too far past his limit would result in death. And even when he didn't hold it too long, his brain would still need a rest before another use, with an average of about thirty seconds of normal brain activity for every quarter-second of chakra-stimulated activity.

Mizuki, who was acting as referee, spoke up. "Uzumaki Naruto versus Uchiha Sasuke, Begin!"

The two fighters blurred forward, and everything happened exactly as the blonde had predicted. Less than a second after the white-haired chunin had spoken, Naruto's left arm was raised straight out at a forty-five degree angle to his body with Sasuke's neck gripped tightly between his thumb and fingers.

Realizing the situation he was in, the dark-haired boy choked out "I give up," and Naruto dropped him, coughing, to the ground.

"That's what you get for underestimating me, teme," the blonde commented.

"You just got lucky this time, dobe," was the Uchiha's response.

Mizuki interrupted them. "Winner: Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto's shinkagan picked up the hate rolling off the man in waves.

* * *

Naruto had just utterly failed to make even a single bushin. "I'm sorry, Naruto, but I'm going to have to fail you," was all Iruka said, with a sad look on his face. His emotions were more worry than sadness, but the blonde was the only one who could tell. The boy's gaze fell a bit as he adopted a dejected expression and walked out of the testing room without a word.

He had gone outside and sat on a small swing under a tree, feeling little stabs of pain in his heart from having just rejected his friends' attempts to console and help him. It had hurt to turn them away, especially Hinata-chan, but he knew he needed to be alone and appear depressed before Mizuki would approach him. So the blonde was now staring forlornly towards the twenty-six graduates, twenty five of them with at least one parent present, when he sensed the white-haired chunin approach.

* * *

"He wants you to WHAT?!" Iruka exclaimed.

"Steal the Forbidden Scroll. He says it's a secret graduation test to steal the scroll an learn a technique from it," Naruto answered, "What kinda idiot would believe a lie like that?" He smiled a bit.

Iruka, however, was serious. "A desperate one. We should tell Hokage-sama about this."

The blonde thought for a moment. "All right, but tell Ojiisan not to change the security around the scroll any. It'll be a good test of my stealth skills."

The chunin sighed. He had wanted Naruto completely out of danger. "Okay, so I'll be hiding in the clearing when you arrive with the scroll, and when Mizuki gets there, you get him to confess while I record the conversation, then we take him."

* * *

Sneaking in and stealing the scroll hadn't been as hard as he had anticipated. Naruto was now sitting in the clearing Mizuki had instructed him to come to with the scroll on the ground in front of him. Iruka-oniisan was hidden in the trees, Ojiisan was watching through his crystal ball, and Mizuki likely wouldn't arrive for several hours. The blonde decided to take a look through the scroll and found some surprising jutsus inside.

"_Oi, fox bitch, take a look at this!"_ Naruto rarely contacted the kitsune, not wanting to come to rely on her and the advice she gave; he knew she wouldn't lie to him though, as he would pick up on it instantly and they would have both wasted time. That was why he saved talking to her for very important or interesting things, like this.

"**What do you want, kit?"**

"_Look, it's the jutsu the Yondaime was _supposed _to use to seal you into me. In a way, I'm glad he didn't, That seal is a piece of junk. I wouldn't be surprised for it to start deteriorating after about thirteen or fourteen years."_

"**Too bad he didn't use that one then. Anything else catch your eye?"**

"_Hmm... They pretty much all cause permanent damage or death to the caster. Don't like that. Wait, what about this one? Kage bushin no jutsu..."_ He lapsed into silence as he read up on the kage bushin.

"_THIS JUTSU IS AWESOME!!"_ Naruto screamed in his mind, _"Now to start learning it"_

* * *

Several hours later, Mizuki arrived. Naruto had gotten the hang of the kage bushin fairly quickly and couldn't help but think about all the uses the jutsu had. The possibilities were endless, especially when combined with his massive chakra supply.

"Naruto. There you are," the traitorous chunin said, "Give me the scroll."

"But Mizuki-sensei," the boy whined, "I thought you said that if I was able to get this Forbidden Scroll and learn a jutsu from it, I'd graduate. Those blueprints and guard schedules for the Hokage tower you gave me were really useful, by the way. I probably wouldn't have been able to get it without them. Thanks for showing them to me."

Mizuki smiled. "Yes, I did say that, and you're welcome, but give me the scroll first, then show me the jutsu."

Naruto's expression turned around completely. "Gotchya, you bastard. A secret graduation test? You really thought I'd believe that? The best part is that we were leading you from the start. Iruka-oniisan and I arranged for me to fail the exam, because we knew you were plotting something, and now we've got evidence."

Mizuki laughed. "You and Iruka? You actually trusted Iruka? Clearly you know nothing about the man. He'd sooner kill you than look at you." Naruto knew what the man was getting at and couldn't help but let his anger build at what he was insinuating. "You know why, Naruto? Do you know why Iruka hates you? Why everyone in this whole damn village hates you?! I'll tell you why! It's because you're the-"

"Because the Kyuubi is sealed inside me. Yes, I know. Now, why don't you just wait patiently for the ANBU that are on their way?

Mizuki, unfortunately, had no intention of waiting. And Naruto realized his mistake an instant too late he had gone too far from the scroll. The chunin leapt at it and simultaneously threw a kunai at the boy. The blonde dodged, but the weapon still hit him firmly in the right thigh. He quickly pulled it out, but by that time, Mizuki was gone, and Naruto could sense that Iruka-oniisan had chased after him. He followed the pair as quickly as his injured leg would allow.

* * *

Naruto arrived just in time. His oniisan was pinned against a tree and exhausted. Mizuki was standing in front of the obviously beaten chunin holding a huge shuriken in his right hand and keeping a tight grip on the scroll with his left arm. "And now, Iruka, you die!" He charged forward.

The blonde leapt into his path and sent a powerful flying kick to the man's chest, while simultaneously hitting his right wrist to make him drop the weapon and ripping the large scroll from his grasp. Unfortunately, the chunin had good enough reaction time to shield his chest with chakra, so the kick only sent him flying back thirty feet instead of breaking his ribcage to pieces. Naruto had unthinkingly kicked the man with his injured leg.

The blonde, using the scroll to help support himself temporarily, glared at the white-haired chunin, releasing a blast of killing intent straight at him. "Don't ever lay a finger on Iruka-oniisan again, bastard, or I'll kill you!"

"Ha! You're an injured kid! I'll beat you in an instant!" But the slight panic in his voice and the way the man was clutching his chest in pain made it obvious, even to Iruka, that he didn't truly believe his own words.

"Mizuki-sensei," Naruto said in a semi-sarcastic tone, "remember how I said I'd learned a technique from this scroll? I'll show it to you now." He brought up his fingers in a single, cross-shaped seal.

"**Kage Bushin no Jutsu"**

The entire area filled with clouds of smoke, and out of the smoke came hundreds upon hundreds of Narutos, all rushing at the now fully panicking chunin.

When he had finished with the man, Mizuki was beaten to near the point of death, with multiple broken bones and likely a good deal of internal damage, judging by the blood coming from his mouth.

"D'you think I overdid it?" the blonde sheepishly asked Iruka while helping the man to his feet.

The chunin smiled, "Perhaps a bit. Now, close your eyes, Naruto. I want to give you a present."

The boy did as asked, even though he already knew exactly what the present would be, and even with his eyes closed his other senses were bringing in more than enough information to tell him exactly what his big brother was doing.

"All right, now open them!" His oniisan looked... strange without a forehead protector. But the expression of pride and joy kindled those same emotions strongly in Naruto, who found he quite liked the feeling of a forehead protector on his head. The newly-promoted ninja threw himself at his big brother and hugged him tightly, remembering a moment too late that the man was wounded.


	12. Chapter 12

**chapter 12**

**team 7**

It had been two days since the graduation exam. Yesterday, Naruto had had his picture taken for his shinobi license, fine-tuned the creation of a new ninjutsu he had been working on for a while, moved into his new apartment, and met Ojiisan's grandson Konohamaru, though not necessarily in that order. He had taken quite a liking to the eight year old boy once he had stopped acting like a complete idiot and had even taught him the newly-dubbed orioke no jutsu for use against his grandfather and closet pervert sensei. Now, though, the blonde was sitting in his classroom in the Academy waiting for team assignments and going over the details of the ninjutsu he had just finished making that morning.

He had named it atsuryokuha no jutsu (pressure wave technique). It was a wind element jutsu that gathered up a large amount of chakra and shoved it out of the body to create a large wave of air pressing towards the ground, forcing anyone caught in its range downwards powerfully. He had even set it up to only affect things above a specified level of chakra, namely ninja. It was his first entirely original jutsu. Naruto hadn't bothered much with creating jutsus in the past because his chakra control had always been so bad that he wouldn't have been able to put his ideas into effect. But with the atsuryokuha, control wasn't an issue, especially since wind was his dominant chakra nature. He just had to pour as much chakra into the jutsu as he could before releasing it. At this point, his thoughts were interrupted by Iruka-sensei's voice.

"Team 7. Uzumaki Naruto." The blonde looked up, wondering who his teammates would be and hoping he was with Hinata-chan. "Hanuro Sakura." His hopes fell a bit; but on the upside, being on a team with the pink-haired girl would force her to interact with him Maybe he could finally have a chance at breaking her obsession with the Uchiha... "Uchiha Sasuke." Scratch that. But on the other hand, the close contact with the dark boy might enable Naruto to get through to him.

"Team 8. Inuzuka Kiba. Aburame Shino. Hyuuga Hinata." Interesting. Apparently the wanted a team specializing in tracking and reconnoissance. Well, at least Hinata-chan had been placed with decent partners.

The next group contained none of his friends, so the blonde tuned Iruka-sensei's words out. The group after, however... "Team 10. Yamanaka Ino. Nara Shikamaru. Akimichi Chouji." The three would work well together. Shikamaru and Chouji were already best friends, and all the team members had abilities and skills that would complement each other perfectly.

"That is all. Please wait here for your jonin senseis to arrive."

* * *

Three hours. Team 7 had been waiting three hours and still no sign of the jonin who was supposed to have been there long ago; everyone else was long gone. Naruto had noted his friends' senseis as they led them away. Team 8 had gotten a beautiful pale-skinned woman with red eyes named Yuuhi Kurenai; she seemed to be a kindhearted bout strict person. The sensei for team 10 was Ojiisan's son Sarutobi Asuma; one glance had told the blonde that the man would get along perfectly with Shikamaru.

And here were the three remaining genin, impatiently awaiting the arrival of the final jonin.

Naruto had had enough. If their sensei was going to be _this_ late, there would be consequences. The blonde made two kage bushins and got to work.

Sakura was curious despite herself. "Naruto? What are you doing?"

A blonde who was crouched on the floor drawing a seal on the wood in front of the door looked up. "Teaching our sensei a lesson in punctuality."

"Ha. You really think a jonin is going to fall for one of your traps, dobe?" Sasuke looked smug.

Another Naruto who was up by the ceiling, having wedged himself into the corner of the room, was the one to reply. "Believe me, teme, he'll fall for this. Especially since he won't be expecting it."

Having finished his work, the boy returned to a seat, poofing his clones out of existence in the process. No sooner did he get there tan his sensitive hearing picked up footsteps in the hallway. Three pairs of eyes were riveted on the door.

A tall man with one eye covered by his forehead protector, a mask over the lower part of his face, and grey hair that somehow stood perfectly vertically walked through the door. "Hey, you guys must be team 7. Sorry I'm late, a bl-" The man froze suddenly. He looked up slowly, unable to move anything but his head due to the temporary paralysis seal Naruto had placed in front of the door. Hanging from the ceiling directly over his head was a bucket, which slowly started to tip. A stream of water poured straight into his face.

"That's your punishment for being so late, Sensei," Naruto explained.

The dripping wet jonin gave him a death glare with his uncovered eye. "Meet me on the roof." The man vanished in a puff of smoke. The genin went to the roof as instructed.

* * *

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were now sitting in a group looking towards the one grey eye of the man across from them. Despite his earlier tardiness, the blonde found himself liking the still-wet jonin.

"All right. Now that we're all here, let's introduce ourselves and get to know each other," the silver-haired man was saying, "Tell us your name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams for the future. I'll go first.

"My name is Hatake Kakashi. My likes and dislikes are none of your concern. I have some hobbies... As for dreams for the future, nothing, really. Pink-hair, you next."

Sakura spoke up, upset that they had learned nothing but his name. "My name is Hanuro Sakura. I like, well, the person I like is..." She glanced at Sasuke and blushed. "I dislike Naruto!" A stern glare in the blonde's direction. "Hobbies, not sure really. And dreams..." She looked at the Uchiha again and blushed ever harder.

"Okay," said Kakashi, entirely unaffected by her obvious fixation, "Broody, you next."

Sasuke gave the man a look that clearly said he didn't want to be there. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. My likes are training and growing more powerful. I dislike just about everything else. I have no time for hobbies. I have an ambition that I have no intention of leaving as a dream. I will revive my clan, and..." At this point, he released a strong killing intent. "I will kill a certain man."

The reactions of his teammates varied. Sakura thought he sounded cool. Kakashi seemed to have been expecting it. And Naruto renewed his vow to help the Uchiha; he knew from personal experience that revenge didn't turn out well.

Their silver-haired sensei brought the genins out of their thoughts. "You finish up, blondie."

Naruto stood and spoke in a loud, enthusiastic voice. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like my important people people and friends, ramen, especially Ichiraku ramen, training, the color orange, and making new things. I dislike narrow-minded idiots and the time it takes to wait for ramen to cook. My hobbies are trying new flavors of ramen and inventing new seals. My dream is to become Hokage and be the greatest ninja ever. The paint around the village the other day was to tell everyone that." Here he suddenly put on a serious expression, his eyes became ice-cold, and he let out a burst of killing intent that made Sasuke's look weak. "I too have to kill a certain man, but more out of necessity than revenge."

At this announcement, everyone looked surprised. Sakura became scared of the boy. Sasuke tried to understand the last bit about necessity instead of revenge. Kakashi became worried about the strength of the killing intent and the look in his eyes, proof that the had in fact killed before, and wondering just who this man could be.

The jonin was the first to speak. "Okay, we're done for the day. Tomorrow I want all of you to meet me at training ground three at five A.M. for some survival training."

"Survival training?" Naruto asked suspiciously. Something in the man's attitude had caught his attention.

"Not just normal survival training. You'll be shocked to hear this, but it's actually an extremely difficult test with a 66.6 failure rate. Those who don't pass have to return to the Academy. And don't bother eating breakfast; you'll just throw up." After speaking, Kakashi-sensei leapt away.

"I _knew_ the Academy exam was too easy," said the blonde, turning to his teammates, "And he was lying about the breakfast comment and the time. My guess is that he'll be three hours late again."

Sasuke just looked at him. "How do you know, dobe?"

"I'm good at reading people, as you should know, Sasuke-teme. Anyway, I'm going o head off to Ichiraku's for lunch. You're free to join me if you want." And with that, Naruto leap off the roof as well.

* * *

Unsurprisingly, neither of his teammates had taken him up on his lunch offer. He did find teams 8 and 10 at the ramen stall, however, and immediately took the seat next to Hinata-chan.

"Hi, Hinata-chan! How did meeting your sensei go?"

The pale-eyed girl turned to face him. "Oh, Naruto-kun, hello. Kurenai-sensei was quite nice. She had us introduce ourselves and told us that we'd be having a test tomorrow and if we fail we'll have to go back to the Academy."

"Don't worry, Hinata-chan. You' ll all do fine," the blonde said encouragingly.

"It's troublesome, this test," Shikamaru spoke up from his other side, "Asuma-sensei is going to give us one too. I guess I'll have to put in a decent effort."

Ino spoke up two seats away from the lazy boy. "You'd better. I won't forgive you if you make us fail. And the same goes for you, Chouji!" She glared at the boy next to her who was busy devouring a large bowl of ramen.

"Ichiraku-ojiisan!" the blonde boy shouted out, "Ten bowls of miso ramen to start for me!"

The old man looked at his new arrival. "Sure thing, Naruto. Coming right up."

"So, what took ya so long, Naruto?" Kiba asked. Akamaru barked in agreement.

The orange-clad ninja looked over at his friend on the other side of Hinata-chan. "Our sensei was three hours late. Three hours."

"Ugh, poor you," the dog boy said, "Stuck in a room with pinky and broody for that long. I don't envy you."

"Don't insult Sasuke-kun like that!" It was Ino. "Why did forehead girl get to be the lucy one on his team?"

Naruto spoke up on behalf of his teammates. "Hey! They're not that bad... Okay, they are that bad, but being on a team with them means I can do something about it. I bet that in a year I'll have made them both completely different personality-wise." At this point, his ramen arrived and he stopped talking to stuff his mouth with the delicious noodles.

* * *

It was seven thirty when Naruto turned up at training ground three, wide awake and well-rested. A quick glance at the other two genin proved that neither had taken his advice. Both looked half asleep and he could hear their stomachs growling. The blonde gave them a look that said "I told you so" before doing a few warm-up stretches and exercises in preparation for whatever their test would be.

Half an hour later, exactly three hours late, Kakashi-sensei showed up in a puff of smoke. "Yo."

"YOU'RE LATE!" Naruto and Sakura shouted simultaneously.

"Sorry, sorry." The jonin's eye gave an apologetic half-smile look. "A little old lady needed my help crossing the street."

"THAT'S A LIE!" shouted the two loud genin.

The man sighed. "Anyway, time for your test. Your goal," he said, taking two small silver bells and a little alarm clock out of a pocket, "is to get a bell from me. You have until noon. Anyone who does not get a bell fails and must return to the Academy." He set the alarm clock and placed it on one of three identical training logs positioned behind him.

Something was off about this. Naruto's shinkagan was picking up deceit coming off of the silver-haired jonin. "But sensei, there's only two bells."

"Well, Naruto, that means one of you will have to fail." The blonde's eyes narrowed. That was an outright lie. "Also, whoever fails will be tied to one of these logs and forced to watch while the rest of us eat lunch. Now, I want you three to come at me with the intent to kill, otherwise you won't stand a chance of getting a bell."

"But Kakashi-sensei, "Sakura interrupted, "what if you get hurt?"

the other three just stared at her for a moment as though she had two heads. "Don't worry, Sakura. I'll be fine. Ready?" All three genin nodded. "Start!" Sasuke and Sakura leapt off.

"Umm... Naruto? What are you doing? I said start." The one-eyed jonin stared at the blonde.

"I have an idea as to the real meaning of this test, and if I'm right, it doesn't really matter what I do right now," he stated.

"Well then, wouldn't it be good to tell your teammates this idea?" The silver-haired man was upset, amazed, and a bit relieved that someone might have figured it out so quickly.

"No," said Naruto, "If I'm right, it would be useless if they didn't figure it out on their own. After all, a team is made up of individuals working together. There can't ever be truly proper teamwork just by someone saying they have to cooperate. And I see by your expression that I'm right. Teamwork is key."

Kakashi was shocked. "You're right, Naruto. But what will you do if the other two don't realize it?"

"Then if time starts to run out, I'll tell them. Teamwork out of necessity is better than none, and I'm not willing to spend an extra year at the Academy because I got an unlucky team assignment. But I have faith in Sasuke and Sakura. They'll figure it out if given enough time." The blonde looked up at his sensei. "Anyway, while we're waiting, I have a request of you."

"Oh? And just what would that request be?" the silver-haired jonin asked curiously.

"Well, y'see," he scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, "I'd like for you to test my abilities. I mean, I don't really know how strong I am. None of my classmates are enough of a challenge and I can never bring myself to go all out against Iruka-oniisan because I'm afraid he might end up seriously hurt, but you're strong enough that I don't need to worry about that."

"Very well, Naruto. Come at me when you're ready."

The blonde deactivated his weight and resistance seals and prepared for battle.

* * *

Sasuke was leaping through the trees, trying to come up with a plan. He knew a straightforward attempt to get the bells was doomed to failure. This was a jonin they were up against, one of the village's best ninja. He'd have to set some kind of trap for the man. Lure him in and take it from there.

But would that be enough? His humiliating defeat at Naruto's hands was fresh in the Uchiha's mind, and he was determined to not underestimate his opponents ever again. But at the same time, he was the top of the class. It couldn't be that hard. After all, the village got a few new genin teams each year...

* * *

Sakura was creeping through the bushes, trying to sort things out in her mind. She had to get a bell. She just had to. Sasuke-kun was sure to get one, and she couldn't bear to be separated from him after just getting the perfect opportunity to spend time with him.

She knew, though, that she stood no chance. Her grades had been excellent, yes, but that was just because she excelled a written tests and book learning. In the practical field, she was a bit below average. And her teammates were the top of the class...

* * *

Kakashi was impressed; Naruto was quite good. The boy had started off by staying back and sending in a few kage bushins to begin. A genin knowing that jutsu and having the chakra capacity to use it as freely as the blonde had was unheard of in the first place, but the boy's speed was well beyond what a genin should have been capable of.

Taking care of the clones had been easy enough, though. The boy's taijutsu was unbelievably sloppy. He telegraphed his attacks nearly half a second in advance and he left himself so wide open he was practically begging to be hit.

Just after the last replica poofed out of existence, Kakashi sensed a kunai thrown by the original heading his way. He reached out to grab the weapon and teach the boy not to waste weapons, only for what he had thought was a kunai to turn out to be a henged kage bushin ready to punch him in the chest. Having no time to dodge or stop the clone, the jonin gathered up chakra in his chest to soften the blow. It still felt like a ton of bricks as the force of the punch sent him flying backwards.

The boy's physical strength was astounding. Kakashi had sensed no chakra enhancement to that blow, just pure muscle. He absently noted that it had been a smart decision on the boy's part. Use of chakra would have tipped him off to the true nature of the kunai. And that hit had come from a kage bushin as well, one made at the same time as at least twenty others, yet it still had that much power behind it. Taking into account just how the kage bushin no jutsu worked, he estimated the boy's physical strength to be on par with and possibly surpassing most jonin.

He found the large discrepancy between strength and speed odd. Perhaps Naruto trained by having constant weight on his body, as that would mean his body would not be used to moving without the extra weight, as it was now, resulting in a lower speed than what he should have been capable of, given his strength.

Kakashi saw suddenly that the path of his flight from the punch would take him right onto a seal that the blonde or a clone had drawn on the ground. Likely the lattter, judging by the still-fading wisps of smoke in the area. Remembering the temporary paralysis seal from the day before, the jonin quickly performed a kawarimi. He watched from a tree branch a few yards as the log exploded in a burst of flame. The boy had predicted his response.

"**Fuuton: Atsuryokuha no Jutsu" **(wind element: pressure wave technique)

Hearing the unfamiliar jutsu name, in itself a slight surprise, as Kakashi knew more jutsu than anyone besides Hokage-sama, the one-eyed jonin prepared himself for anything. Unfortunately, anything did not include an enormous pressure that caused the branch he was standing on to break and forced him to the ground with enough force that he actually sank into the earth up to his waist. As he stuggled free, the experienced ninja took out a kunai and prepared for the attack he knew was coming.

Naruto was on him in under two seconds. His taijutsu was still junk, but his reaction time had increased to an impossible level, and combined with Kakashi's prone position the boy was able to get a couple hits in without taking any himself. Fortunately, the earlier blow had warned the man to put a lot of chakra into defense, or he would have received some broken bones. The jonin noticed an unusual chakra flow to the blonde's brain; maybe the reason behind the insane reaction time?

Kakashi stabbed out with his kunai, intent on getting the boy to dodge and gaining enough room to free his legs. Naruto, however, just took the wound in his left shoulder and kept on with his attack as though nothing had happened.

The jonin finally managed to get a good grip on the blonde's arm and tossed him away, using the brief moment he had gained to force himself fully from the earth. He saw Naruto standing about ten feet away, apparently waiting for him to make a move. Kakashi started forming handseals to attempt a genjutsu, only to be interrupted by a shuriken the boy had launched the moment he had started. He dodged a good distance away, not wanting a repeat of what had happened with the kunai.

Kakashi threw his own kunai at the blonde and immediately launched back into his handseals, this time completing them without interruption. He didn't bother calling out the jutsu's name, as he had learned from experience that intelligent opponents could often detect the illusion from that alone.

Seeing by the boy's actions that it had worked, he calmly walked over. The jonin discovered a moment too late that he'd been fooled. Naruto leapt at him, and the short distance combined with the unexpectedness and the blonde's speed left him unable to to stop the genin as he ripped the bells from his belt.

"I'm completely immune to genjutsu. So, how did I do?" he asked excitedly, tossing the bells back to Kakashi.

"There's still a test going on; I'll tell you afterwards. Besides, we seem to have company coming, and it appears they're together. I wonder if they figured it out?" He put the bells back on his belt as the orange-clad boy leapt off in the direction of his approaching teammates.

* * *

Naruto felt proud as he leapt through the trees towards the other two genin, his seals returned to their normal levels. He had managed to impress and surprise Kakashi-sensei several times. Though the jonin hadn't said anything, his shinkagan had picked up the emotions well enough. Now, if he was lucky, his teammates would want to work together, and they would pass the test.

"Dobe." He had arrived.

"Yeah, teme?"

"Sakura and I were thinking we should all work together to get the bells. I realized there's no way any of us could take a jonin alone, but with all three of us and a good plan, we might stand a chance."

Internally, the blonde was jumping for joy. Now to see if Sakura had gotten it. "Okay, but what about there only being two bells? How do we decide who fails?"

The pink-haired girl answered. "That's just the thing. I think there's something more going on here. Going back over everything I've read, new genin teams are _always_ three people. He can't just fail one of us. It wouldn't make sense."

Naruto grinned his huge grin. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's come up with a plan and get those bells!" This was going to be fun.

* * *

Kakashi was spending his free time leaning against a tree and reading from his favorite orange book, giggling a bit as he did so. It was nearly noon. He knew that his three genin were planning something, but he didn't let it worry him too much. That is, until he saw a huge fireball speeding toward him, sent his way courtesy of the dark-haired Uchiha, who had suddenly appeared in front of him.

The silver-haired jonin jumped out of the way, only for a barrage of kunai and shuriken to fly at his prone midair form from another direction, where he could make out bright pink hair among the bushes. He immediately performed a kawarimi with the nearest suitable object away from the two genin.

Only to receive a strong kick to the gut from Naruto. The three had set it up so he would be forced to use the jutsu and prepared a target for him. Fortunately, the blonde had replaced whatever weights he wore, as the blow was far weaker than any of the earlier ones.

It was still enough to send him flying back in the direction of the other two, and upon landing, Kakashi found himself surrounded by sixty Sasukes, Sakuras, and Narutos. They all leapt at him as one.

The jonin prepared to fend off the coming assault, until every single performed the kawarimi jutsu to be replaced by sixty logs... covered in several hundred exploding notes.

Having learned his lesson about one of his favorite jutsu, the one-eyed man used the shunshin no jutsu to escape the imminent explosion, which turned the small clearing into a large crater.

Knowing that the genin weren't done, Kakashi prepared himself for anything. He heard the distinctive poof of a kage bushin dispelling behind him and found himself mobbed by many more, about two thirds henged into the pink and black haired children, before he had a chance to recover from the shunshin.

Each individual clone was easy enough to destroy, but they just kept on coming from all directions, and he had no idea wether the originals were mixed into the mess or not.

After about thirty seconds of constant poofing, the attack suddenly broke off as all the remaining replicas dispelled. When the smoke cleared, Kakashi found himself staring at three smug genin, with Sakura and Sasuke each holding a single bell. The alarm went off.

"Excellent work, you three. You all worked together and came up with a functioning plan to get the bells. You pass!" His grey eye smiled brightly. "We'll start doing missions and team training tomorrow."

The genin, even the Uchiha, smiled, and Naruto started jumping about for joy. "Heha! We did it! We're the best!"

"That was some plan you all came up with. Mind telling me how it came about?" the jonin asked.

The blonde appointed himself spokesperson. "Well, we were thinking that we'd need to weaken you somehow in order to be able to grab the bells. We were trying to think up ways to do that when Sakura brought up the shunshin no jutsu, which was perfect. All jonin know it, and there's a minimum three seconds of recovery time due to the strain caused on the body.

"Then came the problem of finding and attacking you within those three seconds. My kage bushins were able to solve that, though. I had them hidden around the area in pairs, so that one would dispel, letting me and all the others know your location, while the second immediately attacked before you had a chance to recover.

"Now we had to find a way to make sure you used shunshin instead of kawarimi. I figured that if we could take advantage of the kawarimi, you'd become wary of it. So Sasuke set up that opening bit to force you to use the jutsu without thinking, while Sakura had the brilliant idea of giving you an object to use it with, manipulating where you appeared.

"We guessed that predicting and taking advantage of the jutsu twice in one day, me during my solo attempt, and then again during our team effort, would convince you to use shunshin the next time you needed to get away in a hurry. Then Sasuke came up with the exploding note-covered logs as an offensive use of kawarimi, both forcing you to move and psychologically making you more reluctant to use the jutsu yourself. I added in all the kage bushins for effect and to make sure you couldn't just jump away. We spent most of the time preparing all the exploding notes and logs and getting everything into position. And Sakura managed to grab the bells, so it must have worked."

Kakashi was amazed by the depth of the plan and how they had all worked together to create it. "Again, excellent work, you three. Sasuke, Sakura, would you two mind letting me have a word in private with your teammate?" The two genin not wearing orange left.

"I told you they'd figure it out, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto spoke up once his teammates were out of earshot, "They just needed some uninterrupted time by themselves to think over the test. So, how did I do?"

"Well, Naruto," said the one-eyed jonin, seeing that the blonde was still impatiently awaiting the results of the man's earlier evaluation, "All around, if you go all out, you're on fairly equal footing with most chunin. You have a strong and inventive mind capable of coming up with good plans on the spur of the moment. You seem to be quite skilled at reading people. Immunity to genjutsu is a powerful asset. Your speed is exceptional for a new genin, but still only decent for a skilled ninja. In terms of physical strength, you outclass most of the people in this village, including possibly myself. Your pain tolerance is extremely high. You also appear to have extraordinary stamina, your senses are well beyond that of most humans, and you have a ridiculously large amount of chakra, far surpassing anyone else currently living in Konoha. Not to mention your genius when it comes to seals." The boy beamed at the huge praise.

"But at the same time, your chakra control is bad, you are still lacking in experience, your taijutsu is absolutely pathetic, and your speed is far below where it should be when compared to your strength. Do you train with weights?"

"Yeah. I've been using weight seals on my body since before I turned four," Naruto answered, "Why?"

His suspicion confirmed, the one-eyed jonin explained, "Keeping constant weight on your body, while it does wonders for muscular ability, has the side effect of the body not being used to movement without the weights and therefore not able to fully control its speed. From now on, I want you to spend one day a week without the extra weight during training, getting your body fully used to just what it can do. I can only assume you're already working on your chakra control, as I'd imagine that with your massive chakra stores you have many times more difficulty than others your age, and so even the control you do have is quite impressive ttaking that into account. As for taijutsu, I want-"

Here the blonde interrupted him. "I know my taijutsu sucks. It always has, and no matter how hard I try, I just plain can't learn any sort of taijutsu style. I've tried hundreds of them with the same result. In fact, I don't think there's a single style in Konoha I haven't at least given a shot at. Hinata-chan even tried to teach me the basics of Jyuuken, and Kiba attempted to explain the Inuzula style, but those didn't work at all, either. It's like my brain has some sort of mental block about it."

Kakashi was shocked. The Hyuuga heiress had tried to teach the boy Jyuuken? And he called her -chan? But he could tell Naruto wasn't lying. "All right. I'll have to think on it, but I'm sure I'll come up with something. Is there anything else I should know about you?"

"Yeah," said the blonde, "My clothes are special, as I can change them around at will using my chakra, I heal at an accelerated rate," he made the left shoulder of his orange suit recede away, showing the already-healing stab wound, "I know about the Kyuubi, who is female, by the way, and I have a bloodline limit." Kakashi just gaped at him

Naruto explained about his shinkagan and what it was capable of, then told the man a bit about the demon fox and the nature of the seal on his stomach, and finished up by talking about his mother's gift to him.

"Naruto, one last question, if you don't mind."The blonde genin had been just about to head off. "Yesterday, during the introductions, you had said there was a man you needed to kill. Care to elaborate?"

Thinking about the Yondaime, his eyes once more took on that icy look. "No. Not now, anyway. Only Ojiisan, Iruka-oniisan, and I know the full truth, and it's something I don't think you're ready for yet. I promise I'll tell you someday, though." With those words, Naruto walked away, leaving behind a very puzzled Kakashi.


	13. Chapter 13

**chapter 13**

**ninja life**

Naruto was happy, but not too surprised, to learn that his friends had all passed their team tests as well. After all, Kiba and Shino were all about teamwork, and Shikamaru and Chouji worked together in just about everything they did.

Their tests had been different from his, however. Kurenai-sensei had made her team find thirty specially-marked kunai she had scattered throughout a section of forest, saying that if they didn't find them all in forty-five minutes, they would fail. Team 10 had simply been made to demonstrate the ability to work together in clearing a complex obstacle course.

When the blonde met up with everyone else at Ichiraku's for lunch and told them of his own test and how it had gone, they were all amazed at not only the sadistic tendencies of Kakashi-sensei for trying to make them go against each other like that but also that his teammates had managed to figure out the real meaning and had been willing to work with him. Shikamaru had even complimented him on their plan to get the bells.

After lunch, Naruto headed off to train. He made three hundred kage bushins and sent them off to work on chakra control using an exercise he had learned from Hinata-chan involving leaves. The original decided to try Kakashi-sensei's advice and deactivated his weight and resistance seals then ran and leapt about punching and kicking, getting used to his body's capabilities when unburdened.

That night, the blonde went to bed in his new apartment, excited about the thought of his first ninja mission the next day.

* * *

When he awoke the next morning, Naruto found a note from Kakashi-sensei taped to the outside of his bedroom window saying the team would be meeting in front of the Hokage tower at eight o'clock. The genin was thankful that the man hadn't tried to actually enter his apartment, as the anti-intrusion seals he had put up would have caused quite the disturbance. Looking over at his clock and seeing that it was only six in the morning, the blonde decided to have an extended morning workout after eating breakfast, since he didn't have to meet his team for another five hours.

Realizing that he might as well multitask, the genin made his usual three hundred kage bushins and had them work on chakra control while he did his physical exercises. These consisted of twelve thousand one-finger pushups, one thousand two hundred on each finger, fifteen thousand sit-ups and leg lifts, four thousand one-legged squats on each leg, six thousand one-handed pull-ups, three thousand per arm, seven thousand vertical fingertip pushups, twenty thousand each of punches and kicks, ten thousand on each arm and leg, and three hundred laps around the circumference of the residential part of Konoha, a distance of three miles per lap.

During his run, the blonde saw a frightening sight. There was another jogger: a man wearing green spandex and with the most outrageous bowl haircut the boy had ever seen. His eyebrows were so large they seemed to be alive. And next to him was what could only be described as a miniature clone. Both were screaming to each other in encouragement (he learned their names to be Gai and Lee, respectively), and when they saw him, the spandex-wearing pair shouted something about how he must be enjoying his springtime of youth. Naruto doubled his speed to get away as fast as possible.

* * *

A bit winded after his thorough workout, the blonde saw that it was ten thirty and went to meet his team. Sakura and Sasuke were already there, but no sign of Kakashi-sensei.

"Hey, guys! How're you doing?" he called out.

Sasuke was the one to respond. "You're late, dobe."

"Yeah, well, I figured sensei would show up three hours late again, so I decided to extend my morning exercises." Naruto shrugged.

All three waited in relative silence, except for Sakura's attempts to engage the Uchiha in conversation every five minutes. This continued until eleven sharp, when Kakashi-sensei showed up with an excuse involving a black cat and toothpaste. Then they all headed into the Hokage towe to receive their first ninja mission.

* * *

Painting a fence. Team 7's first mission was painting a fence. More than that, they were painting it _brown_. The thing was made of wood; it was brown to begin with. On hearing what they were supposed to do, Naruto had shouted "WHAT THE HELL!?" so loudly that his teammates were temporarily deafened and half the village heard it. Nevertheless, the three genin went off and painted the brown fence brown. Even Sakura was bored. For the next few hours, they did such things as grocery shopping, babysitting, and walking dogs. The blonde tried to see it as a way to make them prepared for literally anything, but the missions were too boring even for that.

After missions, Naruto met up with his friends, this time at Chouji's favorite barbecue, where everyone complained about their day, except for Shikamaru, who said complaining would be too troublesome, and Shino, who said nothing at all.

The next day they had more D-rank missions. The blonde decided to try treating the missions as training, and surprisingly, it worked. Weeding a garden using your feet while standing on your hands was far more interesting than the normal way of doing it. His teammates quickly picked up on what he was doing and joined in. At lunch, he told the other two teams his idea, and so they accomplished an astounding feat: they became the first genin teams to ever defeat the boredom of D-rank missions.

Their third day after passing the bell test Kakashi-sensei devoted to training, as did Kurenai-sensei and Asuma-sensei. All nine rookie genin met up for sparring and various team training exercises. Everyone, even Shikamaru and Shino, found this more worthwhile than the last two days of missions. Naruto greatly enjoyed the extra time with all his friends, especially Hinata-chan, who was shaping up to be a formidable kunoichi. He passed on to her what the silver-haired jonin had told him about the weight seals, even though it wouldn't affect her as much, since she hadn't been wearing them for as long nor at anywhere near as high of amounts as what Naruto used. The pale-eyed girl was still thankful for the advice.

* * *

The next few weeks proceeded in much the same manner, with two days of mundane missions followed by a day of training with their peers. Nothing especially exciting or out-of-the-ordinary happened, except that Sakura began to warm up to Naruto's presence and speak to him a bit. Three weeks after the bell test, however, Kakashi-sensei pulled the blonde aside after they had finished their team duties (picking up trash, babysitting three toddlers, and fixing a broken fence).

"Naruto, wait up a moment," the one-eyed jonin called.

The genin did as asked. "Yes, sensei?"

"Remember how I said I'd think on a solution to your taijutsu problem?" He instantly had the boy's full attention. "Well, how would you like the idea of learning how to use a weapon?"

Naruto's face lit up, before he realized a problem. "Kakashi-sensei, I don't have enough money to buy a good-quality weapon of any kind, and most store owners won't sell to me in the first place because of _her_..."

"I understand, Naruto, but the particular store I was thinking of doesn't mind the fox, and money won't be a problem."

"R-really, Kakashi-sensei? Thank you!" The blonde smiled gratefully and had to restrain himself from leaping at the man and hugging him.

"No problem, Naruto. This way."

* * *

While they were walking, Kakashi-sensei suddenly asked him a question. "Naruto, why are you hiding your full strength from your teammates?"

The suddenness of the question surprised the blonde genin. "Well, Sasuke, with his self-centered attitude, would just get upset at me for being obviously stronger than him, and Sakura would just be depressed to find out that I'm currently so far beyond her."

"Currently?" the man asked curiously.

"Yeah," Naruto responded, "If they try hard enough, I'm sure they'll be able to catch up or fill in the power gap in some other way. For example, Sakura's chakra control is way better than mine, and if she keeps improving it, it'll stay that way. Or she could follow a skillset that requires extremely high chakra control, like becoming a medical ninja."

Kakashi found himself amazed at the boy's depth of thought. "All right. One last question. hat happens if a situation were to come up where you had to reveal the full extent of your abilities in front of your teammates? What would you do then?"

The blonde saw what the man was getting at and gave him a serious look. "If it comes down to protecting someone's life, I won't hold back. Hopefully I'll be able to write it off to those two as an adrenaline burst."

"I see. Thank you, Naruto. We're here now."

The jonin had led him to a small store in a back alley not far from Ichiraku ramen. It was a plain-looking place, with an old sign hanging over the door that read "Tanaka weapons and shinobi gear."

Inside were a young girl, about Naruto's age, maybe a year older, and a man who looked to be in his mid-thirties. The girl had brown hair done up in buns on either side of her head, and the man's graying hair was already starting to fall out from the top of his head, leaving a bald spot that would only grow as the years passed. Both had large brown eyes the color of chocolate and wore forehead protectors around their heads, and the blonde added them to his "good people" list immediately.

Kakashi-sensei walked up to the man. "Good afternoon, Tanaka-san. How are you doing?"

"I'm well, Hatake-san. Buisness as usual, I presume? And who's the boy?" he asked, glancing in Naruto's direction.

"Yes. The boy's the reason I'm here actually. His name is Uzumaki Naruto." Tanaka's eyes widened a bit at that.

"Ah, so that's Naruto," the man said, "It's good to see him finally. So, what did you want?"

The jonin got down to buisness. "Naruto-kun is a member of my genin team, and I'm looking into getting him a weapon of some kind. I'd like to start off by looking at the special stock, just in case."

While the adults were talking, the blonde had walked over to the burnette. "Hi. I'm Uzumaki Naruto. What's your name?"

"Tanaka Tenten. It's nice to meet you, Naruto-san. Are you usually this open and friendly with people?" the girl asked curiously.

"Oh, I have good instincts when it comes to judging people's personalities. And there's no need to be so formal, Tenten-chan," he said in a friendly manner. The suffix was more because he thought she was nice than because he liked her. Hinata-chan was the only one he thought of like that, and he was still unsure if she shared his feelings.

Tenten, misreading his meaning, gave the boy a look that said she was already taken. "All right then, Naruto, no need to be formal."

Noting the look, the blonde felt a bit awkward. "Oh, I didn't mean like that; besides I already have someone I like."

The girl's mood changed in an instant. "Oh, really? Who?"

But at this point, her father interrupted them. "Tenten, would you take over the store for a few minutes? I'm going to take Hatake-san and Naruto-kun to look at the special stock."

"Yes, tousan," she said, looking a bit surprised.

The older Tanaka led them through a fake wall covered in a genjutsu and down a long winding staircase to a thick door covered in a multitude of protective seals. Whatever was behind this door must have been valuable; the only way to get through that door without one of the Tanakas opening it would be to overload the seals with chakra, which would cause an explosion large enough to destroy half the village.

When the door was opened, Naruto saw the finest collection of weapons he would ever lay eyes on. There were your basic katanas, throwing knives, axes, staffs, spears, etc. but there were also odder weapons, like a claw on the end of a long wire and what looked to be a mix between a hammer and an axe. And even though he knew next to nothing about craftsmanship or weapons-making, the blonde genin could tell that everything in the room was of the highest quality

"Impressive, isn't it, Naruto-kun?" Tanaka spoke up on seeing the boy's wide eyes, "All these weapons have been brought in to the village from various places around the world on a variety of missions, and the Hokages have always given them to the Tanaka family for safekeeping, because they all have something very special in common. Want to know what that is?" The blonde just nodded.

"They all react to chakra in some way or another. And more than that, they react to different people's chakra differently. Now, normally, these reactions are negative in nature. The chakra will rebound on the person and hurt them. But occasionally, when the right person comes along and picks out the right weapon, the reaction will be much better. So give them a try and see if you can find one that works for you. If it does, you get it for free." And he sent Naruto off among the weapons.

The blonde first tried the large hammer/axe he had noticed earlier, channeling a bit of chakra into it as told, only for his hands to light on fire. He quickly dropped the weapon.

His next attempt was with a long katana that felt perfectly weighted and light as a feather, only this time, small cuts started appearing all over his body.

The genin's third choice was a pair of sharp silver daggers with blades sharp enough to cut straight through a kunai just by the forcc of the weapon's own weight, but these had the worst reaction so far: both his wrists slit open, and he was forced to quickly adjust his clothes to bandage the wounds and wait for them to heal somewhat before continuing to prevent death due to blood loss.

Next he picked out a long spear. This time the weapon itself reacted. It flipped around and tried to stab him. Fortunately, Naruto's quick reaction time allowed him to dodge.

Following that, he tried out some leather gloves with dozens of small blades on their backs. They fit his hands well enough, but channeling chakra resulted in a sudden pressure all up his forearm, as though the bones were about ready to shatter into millions of tiny pieces. Naturally, he quickly stopped and replaced the gloves.

After that, he attempted one of the bo staffs, thinking that if antyhing went wrong, at least the weapon wasn't bladed. He didn't expect a small lightning bolt to jump out of the weapon and hit him squarely in the chest.

For his seventh pick, his eyes settled on a pair of huge swords, with blades a good bit longer than he was tall and over a foot wide. They proved surprisingly heavy, even for his enormous strength. This time, there was no pain when he put his chakra into the weapons. Instead, a blue haze of chakra surrounded them, and Naruto found that he could manipulate the chakra into solid forms around the blades as easily as he could change his clothes around. He tuned to the two men and grinned widely. "I think I've found my weapon."

Kakashi and Tanaka just stared at the blonde genin in shock. Neither had truly expected him to find something down here. And the sight of a twelve-year-old boy calmly holding two giant swords each over a foot taller than he was, one in each hand, was quite astonishing as well.

The silver-haired jonin was the first to speak. "That's all well and good, Naruto, but what do you plan on doing with them when you're not using them? They're a bit too large even to sling across your back."

"Hmm..." The blonde thought for a moment, looking at the humongous blades in his hands. "Ah! I've got an idea! Tanaka-san, could you please bring me two katana sheaths?"

Tanaka, curious as to what the boy would want with katana sheaths, did as asked. Whn he returned with the requested items, Naruto dropped the swords to the ground, leaving two sizable craters in the stone floor, grabbed the sheaths, took a miniscule brush from his kunai pouch, and got to work coating them with an intricate series of seals.

About twenty minutes later, the blonde proudly held up two seal-coated katana sheaths, until he put a bit of chakra into two identical seals and activated them, turning all the seals invisible. Realizing that the adults had no way of knowing just what he had done, he gave a demonstration. He picked up one of the huge swords and moved it toward the open end of the sheath. As soon as it got within a couple inches of the opening, the weapon changed, as though a henge had been used, into a plain looking katana. He then did the same with the other sword.

Strapping both swords to his back in an X shape, he practiced drawing them. Once the blades reached a certain distance from the sheaths, they reverted to their original form. The two spectators just stared wide-eyed, mouths agape. Kakashi had known the boy was gifted with seals, but this was insane. Tanaka, on the other hand, couldn't formulate a coherent thought. They went back upstairs, Naruto in the lead.

When they returned to ground level, Tenten stared questioningly at the twin weapons on the blonde's back and her father's still-shocked form. In answer, the genin smiled slightly and drew one of the gargantuan swords. The girl's look mirrored her father's.

She managed to recover much faster, however. "May I take a look?"

"Sure," Naruto replied, carefully holding the blade out for inspection.

On trying to lift the weapon to test its weight, she found herself requiring the blonde's assistance. "Whoa, this thing must weigh over a ton! I'm amazed that you can hold it at all, let alone so easily."

"Yeah, well, apparently I rate pretty high in the physical strength department," he said, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly with his free hand.

Tenten returned to her inspection of the sword. "You see these markings? Know what they are?" She gestured to the strange markings carved into the blade all the way from the tip to the hilt.

"No, I've never seen anything quite like them before. I mean, they look a bit like seals, but not quite."

"Well, I'm not surprised. They're a special brand of seals designed specifically for being carved into weapons. They take a huge amount of time and skill to make, and a single mistake could render the entire weapon useless or harmful to its wielder. Turn it around so I can see the other side." Naruto did as asked.

"Hmm, this is a _very_ special sword. Then again, everything down there is. Is the other one just like it?" He knew she meant the weapon seals. The blonde took out the other sword and it turned out they were indeed an exact match. "Okay, these seals at the bottom let you put chakra into the blades to make them heavier; good for training purposes. Not only that, but the more chakra you put into them, the easier they'll cut through things, especially chakra-infused objects, and the more powerful their other abilities will become.

"And this set of seals in the middle here lets you repair any damage that might be done to the swords. And by any I mean _any_. If these things somehow end up broken, all you have to do is put the pieces near each other, run some chakra through, and they'll be brand as new. It also registers your chakra signature, and if you ever get separated from either sword, you can draw it back to you, as long as it's not too far away.

"Then there's these seals near the tip. They let you store chakra in the blades and control it in a sort of field about two feet wide, or you can release the chakra in concentrated bursts from the tip. It even works with elemental chakra."

Naruto was as amazed with his weapons' abilities as Tanaka had been with the boy's seal abilities. "That's amazing, Tenten-chan! How do you know so much about these weapon seals?" He had seen how she was able to easily pick apart the complex markings in just the same way his mind picked apart regular seals.

"Oh," she chuckled a bit at the compliment, "Tousan says I have some kind of talent for it. And we _are_ Konoha's weapons masters."

The pride in her voice was clear. "Well," said the blonde, "I'd feel bad leaving this place without buying anything, so what do you have in the way of kunai and shuriken sets, preferably in the twenty to twenty-five thousand yen price range, as that's all I can really afford right now."

"Don't worry. We like to make sure our regular equipment is priced well enough that most nins can afford it, unlike all those greedy overcharging weapons dealers you'll find in other stores. As for shuriken and kunai sets, they're right this way..."

* * *

Two and a half hours later, Naruto left Tanaka weapons and shinobi gear alone, his sensei having vanished after he saw the blonde was doing fine on his own. The orange-clad genin's frog wallet was now near-empty, but in return he had bought the two katana sheaths, new sets of high-quality kunai and shuriken, not the kind made to be chakra-enhanceable, but these would have to do until they started going on higher-paying missions, and a complete set of smoke bombs, soldier pills, seal paper (which he had gotten an extra set of), and various other sundries he was sure to find useful. He also had his twin swords. And most importantly Naruto had made a new friend in the form of Tanaka Tenten.

They had talked about life as ninja and the monotony of D-rank missions. She told him about some of the C-ranks she had been on with her team, and he in turn told her about his discovery of how to make the D-ranks slightly less bad.

They had told each other about their respective teams and jonin senseis. Naruto was surprised to find out that one of her teammates was Hyuuga Neji, who he had heard a bit about from Hinata-chan, and that the spandex-clad crazies he had seen around the village during morning runs were the other two. The blone felt very sad for his new friend, especially as she referred to Neji as "Neji-kun," solving the mystery of just who she liked. From Hinata-chan's accounts, the boy was far too much like Sasuke to care about girls.

On hearing about the blonde's teammates, however, Tenten was sorry to hear that he had been landed with a chronically tardy sensei, an arrogant bastard, and an obsessed fangirl of said arrogant bastard. Naruto assured her that their attitudes would change over time and that Sakura was already warming up to him, but just like his other friends her reaction was that she would believe it when she saw it.

He invited Tenten and her team to join in on the lunches he shared with his friends, but the chocolate-eyed girl had pointed out that it would be bad to put Neji in a room with Hinata and Lee in a room with anyone. On his way out of the shop and to said lunch, which he was already very late to, Naruto heard the kunoichi asking her father why he had never taken her to see the special weapons stock.

* * *

Rushing to the barbecue restaurant without even bothering to drop his purchases off at his apartment first, he found his friends on teams 8 and 10 about halfway through their meals. Apparently they had waited almost a full hour for him before starting.

Receiving several questions about where he had been and the swords strapped to his back (from Ino and Kiba respectively), Naruto answered to the best of his ability while stuffing his mouth full of meat; he was starving.

Once the blonde's stomach had stopped complaining, he explained in a bit more detail, telling them about Kakashi-sensei taking him to Tanaka Weapons, getting his swords, which everyone wanted to see after the meal (except for Shikamaru, stating that it was too troublesome), and talking with Tenten-chan, whom Hinata-chan seemed interested in for some reason.

"Um, Naruto-kun?" the blue-haired Hyuuga asked

"Yes, Hinata-chan?" He had always had trouble reading the pretty girl, and this time was no exception.

"What do you think of Tenten-san?" she asked politely.

"Hmm... She seems pretty nice. Friendly and talkative. And unlike some kunoichi, she takes her training seriously. Unfortunately for her, one of her teammates and her sensei are the most overenthusiastic, loudest, and worst-dressed people in the village."

"Wow, Naruto, coming from you, that means a lot." This was Ino.

The blonde looked at the other blonde, upset at the interruption/insult. "They wear green spandex._ Green. Spandex._" The mental image made the girl cringe. He returned to Hinata-chan. "And her other teammate is your cousin Neji. But she's a nice girl and will probably be a good friend."

At the word "friend," the Hyuuga girl relaxed noticeably, although Naruto wasn't sure why. Did she know Tenten and was anxious for him to be friends with the brown-haired girl? But Hinata-chan wasn't done with her questions.

"What did she say about Neji-niisan, Naruto-kun?"

Curious about her cousin. Now that made more sense. "It seems she has a crush on Neji. Not as strong as what Sakura has for Sasuke, but still there. I can't quite tell if it's more than that or not, though. I'd have to se them together or get to know her a bit more first."

"Hey, Naruto. Why didn't you invite her and her team to join us for lunches?" Chouji asked.

"Oh, I did. She refused on the grounds that Neji... strongly dislikes Hinata-chan and putting them in a room together wouldn't help the mood, and because Lee is just plain loud and weird."

Everyone accepted this but several of them said they would like to meet Tenten sometime.

* * *

After the late lunch finished up, Naruto showed off his new swords, giving the same explanation Tenten had given him about their abilities. Several of his friends tried to lift one of the blades, but Chouji proved the only one strong enough, and even then he needed to chakra-enhance his strength to do it.

Everyone split up, most of them going off to train. The blonde boy, for one, wanted to test out his new weapons. He quickly decided to add practicing various swings to his morning workouts, as he was currently finding perfect control of the blades to be difficult: things like halting his motion mid-swing and controlling the weapons with just his wrists currently required more effort than was acceptable.

Naruto then decided to test out the chakra field and quickly discovered that he could make it sharp enough to cut things, though not as well as the blades themselves were able to, and solid enough to block kunai and shuriken from his kage bushin, as long as they didn't put chakra into the throw.

Speaking of kunai and shuriken, he found himself quite liking the new set. They were sharp and well-made, and while the metal couldn't absorb large amounts of chakra, it could take enough to noticeably increase the weapons' strength.

The best thing about the chakra field around his blades, though, was how easy it was to manipulate. It would be quite useful in battle to have a weapon that was able to suddenly and smoothly change form.

Next, the blonde tried releasing a burst of stored chakra from the tip of a blade, as Tenten had told him. He pointed one of his swords towards a tree and focused on letting a bit of chakra from the weapon, trying to keep it small. A condensed blast of chakra shot out, the unexpected recoil causing his arm to jerk slightly. When it hit its target an instant later, the bottom of the tree had been obliterated, and the top was sent flying away. Naruto gaped at the speed and power of this new ability. If an opponent was close enough and didn't see it coming, they could be hit before having time to react.

He decided to experiment a bit more and discovered that he could release the chakra burst while swinging the blade, although he had to put a good deal more force into the swing, resulting in a blast that spread out over a wide area but had less power than an equivalent straight burst.

To finish up, Naruto chose to test out the different elements with the chakra field and chakra burst. While his primary chakra nature was wind, he also had a fairly strong affinity for lightning and could bring up his lightning-natured chakra without too much trouble, but he couldn't yet control it well enough to attempt a jutsu with it. He would have to separately mould up lightning-natured chakra for that. As a matter of fact, when Iruka-oniisan had tested the blonde to find out his chakra nature, both had been shocked to learn that he had at least a slight affinity for all five elements, with water being his tertiary element, and slight traces of fire, followed by earth last of all. These later three were currently so close to nonexistent in him, though, that they might as well have not been there. It had been quite a pride boost, however, to learn that he was the lucky one-in-ten-thousand ninja to, with lots of training, freely access all five elements. That reminded him to ask Kakashi-sensei just what kind of training he should do to strengthen his chakra natures.

Returning his thoughts to his current work with the new weapons, Naruto replaced the chakra in the blades with wind chakra and took a look at the effects on the field. For one thing, the chakra field was now near-completely invisible to the naked eye. The only way to tell its shape was through chaakra-sensing or by the slight distortions of the air in its location. Testing to see just what other effects the field had, the blonde took a leaf and dropped it into the odd patch of air. The leaf was shredded so badly that it hit the ground as a pile of green... dust?

Using one of his old kunai, cheaply-made and in horrible condition, the genin decided to test just how strong he could make the field. By pouring a huge amount of chakra into one specific location, he found that even the poor-quality metal was shredded.

Moving on to the chakra burst, Naruto, already knowing enough about the wind chakra and how the blades worked to have an idea of what would happen, chose a large boulder as his target. The invisible burst of wind cut the thick rock cleanly in half and continued forward over a distance of nearly fifty feet, based on the fallen trees in a straight line ahead.

Finally, the blonde decided to try the only other element he currently had access to. It was predictable enough. The lightning field showed up as crackling electricity and, judging by what it did to his kage bushins, was strong enough to temporarily paralyze any living organism it touched. The chakra burst came in the form of a huge lightning bolt that would completely fry the first thing it hit and moved at speeds that most ninja would have trouble dodging without prior knowledge of the attack, even from a distance.

Seeing that it was getting late, Naruto finished up his evening with a visit to Iruka-oniisan, to talk to his big brother and tell the man everything that had happened that day. The chunin was obviously impressed with the blonde's new weapons, and he approved of Tenten as a friend, having heard about her from her instructor at the Academy.

After all this, Naruto went home and laid down in bed, wondering jst how much he was going to explain to his two teammates tomorrow during training.

* * *

As predicted, the first thing he heard on meeting his teammates was "What're those, dobe?"

He gave his planned response. "Swords. What d'ya think teme?"

"Show them to me."

"No."

"Naruto! Don't ignore Sasuke-kun like that!"

At this point, Kakashi-sensei arrived, drawing his dark-haired teammate's attention away from the new blades, as planned. "Yo."

"YOU'RE LATE!" Naruto and Sakura shouted, continuing the routine.

"Sorry, sorry. I got lost on the road of life..."

"THAT'S A LIE!" Again from the two genin who spoke more than ten sentences a day.

"Anyway, instead of our usual training with everyone else, I thought we'd try something different today."

"Really, Kakashi-sensei? What were you thinking of?" Naruto asked loudly.

"Well," said the silver-haired jonin, "I was thinking that today we'd focus on individual abilities. For now, Sakura, I want you to come with me. Naruto and Sasuke, you two go spar until I'm finished with Sakura here"

Everyone did as told, excited about doing something new.

* * *

Sakura was a bit nervous. What kind of individual training would Kakashi-sensei give her? She knew she wasn't very good and was well below her teammates in terms of ability. Even Naruto was light-years beyond her.

Thinking about the blonde always made her confused. She still remembered the first day he had come to the Academy, when her mother had told her that he was a bad boy and she should stay away from him. But as she saw him in their class throughout the years, and even moreso after being placed on a team with him, she couldn't help but wonder just what her mother had meant. He seemed nice enough, was obviously easy to get along with, and there was something about him that just seemed to draw people towards him. Maybe it was his confident attitude and powerful determination. She wasn't sure.

Of course, he was loud, rude, sometimes even coarse, but Kiba fit those same categories, and no one had warned her about the dog-boy. He had a hobby of playing pranks, but they were never actually harmful, and one couldn't help but admire the hidden genius in their setup and execution. Then there was his fashion sense, but that was hardly a reason to stay away from someone. In short, for every negative quality the boy had, there were at least two or three positive qualities to make up for it, and that was something not many people could boast about. Except Sasuke-kun, of course.

At this point, Kakashi-sensei brought her out of her thoughts. "Sakura. I've been thinking about you recently and what to do with you as your sensei."

"Y-you have, Kakashi-sensei?" The nervousness that had vanished while thinking of her blonde teammate returned full blast.

"Yes, I have. And as your sensei, I'm not entirely sure what would be best in your case. You see, unlike the boys, you aren't suited for constantly being in the thick of combat. As you are now, you just don't have the chakra capacity or stamina for it. So I see two options for you. One: you could work extremely hard to completely change everything about you and become more like them. Or two: we use the abilities you already have, strengthen them, and send you down a different path. What do you think?"

Abilities she already had? What were those? She was good at book learning, but that was about it. But the idea of having to completely change who she was didn't sit well with her, either. "What kind of different path, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Well, I was originally thinking of a long-range support specialist. Long-range jutsus need good chakra control, which happens to be one of your strengths. And you demonstrated during the bell test that you're able to back up your teammates with thrown weapons. Plus you have a powerful mind and can think up good ideas to help out your teammates in mid-battle.

"And then, just yesterday, someone pointed out another path you could attempt to follow. It would be a good deal harder, but if you were willing to work for it, you'd make a perfect medical ninja. As I said before, your chakra control is well beyond that of your teammates, and excellent chakra control is _vital_ to success as a medical ninja. Too little chakra, and a wound won't heal; too much and you make the damage worse. And you can put your book smarts to use here too, because medical ninjas need to know everything about the human body and how it works in addition to a wide variety of chemical compounds. So, what do you think? You don't have to answer right now if you don't wa-"

"I'll be a medical ninja." She said it with as much determination as she had ever heard from Naruto. And she felt determined, as well. A medical ninja would be perfect for her. That way, if her teammates or friends were to get hurt, she could help them. She could be of help to Sasuke-kun. And she would have an advantage over Ino-pig. _She_ wouldn't be getting med nin training anytime soon.

"All right, but I want you to be sure you know what you're getting into. This isn't going to be a walk in the park, you know. And even though you'll be a medic nin with the primary job of healing people who need it, you'll still have to fight and kill throughout your ninja career. Understood?" The one-eyed jonin gave her a stern look and mixed in a bit of killing intent, to make sure she got the importance of her decision.

Sakura's gaze didn't waver. If anything, she felt more determined than before. "Understood, Kakashi-sensei."

"Good," the man said. He held out a piece of paper. "Here is a list of books you can find at the Konoha library that should prove useful when you're first starting out. As far as someone to teach you, there aren't many med nin in the village, and most of them are constantly busy, but there's a genin with some impressive medic skills, and he'd be more than willing to teach you. I want you to meet him two days from now at Konoha Hospital room 317 at three P.M sharp. His name is Yakushi Kabuto. Got all that, Sakura?"

"Yes, sensei. Sensei, if I may ask one more question? Who was it that gave you the idea of medical ninja training for me?" She wanted to know who to thank for setting her on her course in life.

Kakashi-sensei gave her one of his eye-smiles. "Uzumaki Naruto."

* * *

Kakashi-sensei had just gone off with Sakura, and Naruto found himself alone with the brooding Uchiha. It was awkward, to say the least. "So, wanna spar?" he asked.

"No." was Sasuke's terse response.

"Why not? Kakashi-sensei did order us to" the blonde replied.

Sasuke's comment was, "There's no point."

While he would normally leave it at that, Naruto sensed something off in the dark boy. "What d'ya mean, 'no point'? Of course there's a point. By sparring against each other, we train, we learn more about each other, and we become closer as teammates."

"I mean there's no point because you'll just win every time, Naruto."

The blonde was struck dumb with shock. Sasuke had just... admitted that Naruto was better than him? And that he had used his name showed just how serious he was being. Sasuke had _never_ called Naruto by his name."You don't know that! In fact, I think you're the only person in our age group who could beat me in a fight!"

Sasuke sighed. "Yes, I do. I'm not an idiot. In our fight during the graduation exam you proved just how much better than me you are."

"One fight? You're basing this conclusion off of one fight, Sasuke?" Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Naruto, you beat me in under a second. And there was nothing I could have done about it."

"Sasuke, you were completely underestimating me there. Of course I took advantage of it. If I hadn't beaten you right off the bat, you would've gotten serious and I might have lost. You gave me an opportunity and I took it. And you're not the kind of person to give up after just one loss. If you were, I wouldn't want you as a friend!" How did that slip out?

Just like the day they first spoke, the peculiar rush of emotions spread over the Uchiha at the use of the word "friend." That strange drastic increase in the feelings of anger and sadness, mixed again with that powerful desire before the final emotion was again crushed under self-hatred and fear.

After a bit, the dark boy's emotions settled down a bit, and he seemed to come to a conclusion. But it didn't feel like a true conclusion, as though Sasuke himself was unsure of where his decision would lead him. Naruto's shinkagan and years of reading people with its aid picked all this up as it happened. Then Sasuke spoke. "If you want to be my friend, Naruto, then so be it. But don't blame me for whatever consequences might come of it."

This last bit confused the blonde. He'd be sure to figure it out sometime. "All right, Sasuke. I won't. Friends?" He stretched out his right hand.

"Friends." said Sasuke, and they shook.

Naruto decided it was time to lighten the mood. "Pinky swear?" he asked with a smile.

The Uchiha gave him a look that could have made flowers wilt.

After a minute of companionable silence, the blonde spoke up again. "Hey, Sasuke. Have you ever thought about using weights to aid your training?"

The dark-haired boy looked up, his intrest caught by the use of "aid" and "training" in the same sentence. "Weights? No, why? Do you use them?"

"Yeah, I've been using weights since before I turned four. It's a really helpful way to train."

Sasuke gave him a look-over. "I don't see any weights on you."

"That would be because I use weight seals. They don't take up space, increasing or decreasing the weight is easy: the weight is proportional to the amount of chakra in the seal, and no one knows they're there because they become invisible when left alone for a second or two. I can show you how to make them and give you some advice on their placement if you want."

"All right," was the Uchiha's short reply.

So Naruto spent the next few minutes showing his new friend (it felt strange to finally be able to use that word with Sasuke) how to draw the seals onto his skin and advising him on where to place them, as he had said he would.

Soon after he finished with this, the blonde saw his other teammate and sensei in the distance walking slowly back towards them. "One last thing, Sasuke. Give Sakura a chance. She really does have feelings for you, even if she doesn't quite realize it yet. And if she ever finds something to be serious about, I'm sure she'll shape up to be a fine person and ninja."

Before the Uchiha could respond, Sakura and Kakashi-sensei arrived, the latter not surprised to find they had ignored his orders to spar, and the former with a look on her face Naruto had never seen before. It was a mixture of happiness and determination. Apparently she had found her something to be serious about. Then the jonin spoke up. "Sasuke, you come with me."

* * *

Sasuke wasn't sure what to think. In just a few minutes, his blonde teammate had torn down every one of the barriers he had been setting up around his heart over the past five-and-a-half years. And now he wasn't sure of anything anymore. He couldn't help but consider Naruto a friend, no matter how much he didn't want to, no matter that he knew he would end up just using the blonde boy. But would he really? When the time came, could he really bring himself to kill his best, his only friend, for power? That was something he'd deal with when he came to it.

And then there was what he had said at the end about Sakura. He had never really paid attention to the pink-haired girl before. She had just been one of the horde of fangirls following him around annoying him all the time. Was there really something more to her? He decided to put his trust in his new friend and try talking to her while Naruto was with Kakashi.

Speaking of Kakashi... "Sasuke. When it comes to training you to be a ninja, I have no idea what to do with you at the moment. The problem with you, and Naruto as well for that matter, though he's starting to work on it a bit, is that you're too unfocused. You have huge amounts of potential and you qualify as a genius in all major areas of the ninja arts. But I have no idea what direction would be best for you. And until your sharingan develops, I can't give you training in that, either."

Sasuke was confused. "Training in my sharingan? What do you mean, Kakashi?"

"I mean that, through a complicated series of events that I have no intention of telling you about, I have a sharingan in my left eye." He pulled up his forehead protector and Sasuke saw the proof.

The Uchiha gaped. Once he had calmed down, Kakashi spoke again, re-covering the eye. "What I'm trying to say is that I want you to decide what you want, and I'll train you to reach that. And before you say a word about revenge, know that you would just be following in Itachi's footsteps and even if you did kill him, you would have become just as bad or worse in the process."

Sasuke was angry. "But I have to kill him! I have to take vengeance for my family! And what if he comes back?! Should I just sit by as he kills everyone close to me again?!"

Kakashi looked at him and gave him a strong dose of killing intent to get his complete attention. When he spoke, his voice was stern and serious. "No, of course not. But you shouldn't go looking for him just to settle a score from the past. It is highly likely that you will meet him again someday, and if you've spent your time until then living well and growing stronger, you will be able to defeat him when that time comes. But if you waste your life on a foolish quest for revenge, I will not help you and you will simply end up losing everyone around you to your rage and hate. Now, what do you want?"

The answer came immediately. "I want to become as powerful as I can."

"Why?"

Sasuke stopped. Did he really want power to kill his brother. Just this morning, he would have said yes in an instant, but now he wasn't so sure. Up to this point, his brother had always been his goal in life. Wether to match up to him in their father's eyes or to kill him, Itachi had always been his goal. But then he thought of Naruto and why he wanted power. What was it that he had said his dream was? To be Hokage? Power to protect others. But he had also said something about killing someone, only he had added that it was not for revenge but necessity. With what little he now knew of the blonde, that need may very well have been the need to protect others. It sounded nice, gaining power to keep safe those with less power.

"I'm not sure yet," came his eventual, honest answer, "I'm confused. i've been chasing him my entire life. To abandon that now... I both love and hate the idea."

Kakashi thought for a moment. "Very well. I will train you to the best of my ability, in the hopes that you make the right choice when the time comes. Now, let's return to the others."

* * *

"So, what did Kakashi-sensei have to say?" Naruto asked his pink-haired teammate.

She just looked at him for a moment. "Naruto, thank you."

Well this was certainly unexpected. She couldn't have overheard the tail end of his conversation with Sasuke, could she? "Thank you? What for?"

"For giving Kakashi-sensei the idea of having me train as a medical ninja," Sakura replied.

The blonde was confused for a moment, before he recalled his conversation with the jonin on the way to the Tanakas' store. "Oh, no problem. I was just throwing ideas out, saying whatever came to mind." He paused, taking full note of what she had just said. "Wait, you mean he asked you if you wanted to be a med nin? And you agreed? Sakura, that's great!"

"Well don't brag just because you came up with a good idea!" Now she was a bit angry. She certainly had violent mood swings.

"I meant it's great to finally see you so happy and determined for once and to know what caused it." responded Naruto, hoping to calm her down.

It worked. "What do you mean? I'm happy almost all the time."

The blonde sighed. "I'm not talking about that superficial happiness you always have. I mean you're happy on the inside too, for the first time in the two years i've known you."

His comment seemed to remind Sakura of something. "Naruto, the first day you came to the Academy, when my parents saw you at the end of the day, my mother all but ordered me to stay away from you, saying that you were bad to be around. But none of your friends mind you, and they're good people, even Ino. And I've been around you long enough to know you're not a bad person, so what did she mean?"

He knew exactly what she meant, of course. The problem was in wording his answer. "Remember in our team introductions when I said one of my dislikes was 'narrow-minded idiots'? Well, something happened to me when I was little, something that hurt Konoha quite badly and many people, mostly non-shinobi, use me as a scapegoat for their emotions and blame it all on me. As far as just what this something is, I might tell you someday, but it's too personal to reveal right now. And before you go ask your parents, they can't tell you, and they don't even know the truth in the first place."

"All right. Thank you for letting me know," Sakura said.

They lapsed into silence for a bit before Naruto spoke again. "Hey, Sakura. When it comes to Sasuke, maybe you should try acting less like a fangirl and more like yourself around him."

"What do you mean?" was the pink-haired girl's reply.

"What I mean is..." The blonde genin thought for a moment. "Why do you like him?"

"Huh?"

"You heard me. Why do you like him? And don't just say all those silly surface reasons about how he's cool and strong and mysterious. I want you to tell me why you _really_ like Uchiha Sasuke."

She thought long and hard before answering. "I'm... not entirely sure. When I'm honest with myself, I know that he's a bit arrogant, and he can be mean sometimes, but I can see that he has a good heart. And he's in pain. So much pain I see it every time I look into his eyes. And I want to help him. I want to heal that pain, or take some of it into myself so he doesn't have to carry it all. And so I have to get him to let me in so I can help him with his pain."

"Now do you see what I mean? Show him that Sakura, not the fangirl Sakura. That's the only way he'll ever let you in." And just as he had done before with Sasuke, Naruto chose that moment to lighten the mood. "But try to leave out the whole pain thing when you're talking to him. He wouldn't appreciate that." He smiled, and Sakura laughed.

"Naruto, that offer you gave us the first day, of joining you and your friends for lunch. Is it still open?"

His smile grew wider. "Sure! We're all meeting at Ichiraku ramen today after team activities finish up. Feel free to meet us there! Oh, that reminds me, we're supposed to be sparring right now, aren't we? Guess we ran out of time for that." Naruto laughed.

"I guess we did. And I'll be there, if only to rub it in Ino-pig's face that I'll be getting med nin training." Sakura said with a smile on her face.

Naruto thought of something else. "Ah, I've just thought of something that might help you in your training as far as stamina and chakra supply goes. Have you ever thought of wearing weights?"

And so the process he had gone through with Sasuke repeated itself again with Sakura. He told her about his weight seals, how to make them, and gave her suggestions as to where to place them, but told her that with her med nin training coming up, she would soon have a better idea than he did of where best to place the weight seals. Seeing that Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke were on their way back, he walked over to them, leaving the pink-haired girl to hopefully have her first true conversation with the boy she loved.

* * *

Sasuke and Sakura just sat there for several minutes, both too lost in their thoughts to really say anything. Surprisingly, the Uchiha spoke first. "Sakura..." He trailed off, not sure just how to continue. He was no good in these social situations, damn it!

"Umm, Sasuke-kun?" the pink-haired girl started, before trailing off herself. Just be herself, yes, but _how_? What should she say?

"I'm sorry about how I've been treating you." both blurted out at the same moment.

The two genin stared at each other in shock, wide-eyed. "What do you mean?" Again, simultaneously.

They froze in shock again, before Sasuke nodded for the pink-haired girl to go first.

"Well, I'm sorry for always being such an annoying nag. It must have gotten on your nerves. But the truth is I just wanted you to acknowledge me, and being a fangirl like almost every other female in the class was the only way I could think of to express myself. But now I'm trying to make myself a better person and a better ninja. In two days, I'm going to start training to be a medical ninja. That way, when we start going on more demanding missions, I won't be dragging the team down and may even manage to be helpful."

Now it was the Uchiha's turn.

"I'm sorry about being so uncaring and even cruel to you all the time. When I was younger, something terrible happened to me, and I've been trying to shut people out ever since, sure that anyone who got close to me would just hurt me and be hurt by me. Now, I'm not so sure. Everything is confusing all of a sudden, and I don't know what to think anymore. I'm just drifting around aimlessly with nothing to support or anchor me. But if you'd allow me to, I'd like to use your caring and kindness towards me as my support and anchor. And it's good that you're going to do something useful with yourself as a ninja. Being able to heal injuries during a mission or even in mid-battle is a good skill to have."

After their respective confessions, silence reigned for a bit. Sakura broke it this time.

"So, shall we spar?" she asked.

Sasuke agreed. "Sure. Don't worry; I'll go easy on you."

"I don't want you to go easy on me!" the pink-haired girl exclaimed vehemently. Then, almost as an afterthought, she added, "But at least give me a chance. Please?"

* * *

Naruto was happy. It felt like all the problems in their team were vanishing in a single day. He wasn't that naive, of course. The blonde knew they were still there, but now that they were no longer at the surface, they could work on them.

"Kakashi-sensei, you're a genius." he remarked to the jonin.

"Why, thank you, Naruto," came the response.

"This day was exactly what our team needed. It's the first time I've ever seen Sakura truly happy, I've been able to get Sasuke to open up a bit, and judging by his emotions after his talk with you, he isn't quite so dead-set on revenge anymore. Plus, if things work out the way I think they will, those two will actually be talking to each other right now." The blonde was obviously happy.

"So, Naruto, how are you liking those swords you got yesterday?" the jonin asked.

The energetic boy grinned his ear-to-ear grin. "They're awesome!" He proceeded to expound on his findings during the previous day's training, using copious hand gestures and sounds to accompany his excited narrative.

Kakashi found himself thoroughly impressed with the weapons' abilities and Naruto's creative and imaginative mind, which was already coming up with a long list of uses for ehat he currently knew about the two swords still strapped to his back.

Eventually, the blonde remembered his question he had wanted to ask the man about chakra nature training. When he explained that his chakra had an affinity for all five elements, the jonin's eyes widened, but he told Naruto that he would have to work on his basic chakra control a bit more first before he was ready to start training to bring out his other elements.

Seeing that they had been talking for nearly a half hour, Kakashi brought their discussion to a close with one final question.

"Naruto, are you ready to tell me about that man yet?" He had asked Hokage-sama, but the old man had just looked at him painfully and said he would have to wait for Naruto.

The boy got that cold look in his eyes again, as he did whenever the subject came up.

"It's not a matter of me being ready, Kakashi-sensei. It's a matter of my knowing that you're ready. And no, you're not ready yet. Let's head back to Sasuke and Sakura." And the blonde walked off with the silver-headed jonin following.

* * *

What they saw on their return made Naruto burst out into laughter and wish he had a camera. Sasuke was lying on the ground on his back, and Sakura was lying on top of the Uchiha face down, On hearing the blonde, both quickly separated and, blushing furiously spoke, at the same time. "It was a sparring match!" They stared at each other and blushed even harder.

"So, Sakura. Still on for that offer of ramen with everyone?"

"Sure, Naruto! Sasuke-kun, why don't you come too?"

"I have to go train"

"If you come, I'll show you my swords afterwards, teme."

"Grr... You win, dobe."

To say that the other rookie genin were surprised to see Nauto's teammates come in with him and, what's more, act somewhat like ordinary human beings would be the world's largest understatement. Hinata-chan fainted, something Naruto had cured her of within weeks of meeting the girl. Chouji stopped eating, even with the giant bowl of ramen in front of his face. Shikamaru was unable to think coherently enough to say "troublesome." Kiba and Akamaru were speechless. Ino couldn't find it in her to insult Forehead-girl, glomp Sasuke-kun, or pick on Naruto's lack of fashion sense. And Shino's glasses fell off his face. Unfortunately, they were returned before anyone got to see his eyes.


	14. Chapter 14

**chapter 14**

**to wave country**

"Oi, teme! Got a little present for ya today!" Naruto shouted out as he reached team 7's usual meeting place on a small bridge a few minutes less than three hours late. He removed a scroll from a pouch at his side and tossed it to the other boy.

Snatching it out of midair, the Uchiha saw that it was a jutsu scroll. More specifically, a fire jutsu scroll. "Where'd you find this, dobe?"

"Doesn't matter," the blonde said. It had been two weeks since the day when the two had finally started being friends, and the jutsu was something he had created specifically for Sasuke. Knowing that his teammate would not react well to this knowledge, he chose to keep it a secret. "It's a fire jutsu, and I can't use those. You can, so I thought you might want to have it."

The dark-haired genin gave a small nod and a grunt in thanks; it was the most gratitude Naruto had ever seen him show.

"Oh, a new jutsu? Does it look good, Sasuke-kun?" team 7's third member asked, trying to peer over the boy's shoulder at the scroll.

The boy read the name and basics of the jutsu out loud for the sake of his curious teammate. "Katon, horyuukubushi no jutsu (fire element, fire dragon fist technique). Concentrate fire-elemental chakra to the fists. The jutsu allows it to be released in a small burst of flame along with a punch. Requires moderate to high chakra reserves and decent chakra control, in addition to fire-natured chakra. So basically it enhances my taijutsu by letting me throw flaming punches. And it says here that with enough practice and control, it can be used from anywhere on the body. Only takes five handseals to activate and it stays active until the user cancels it or runs out of chakra.

"Dobe, were there any more jutsus where you found this one?"

Naruto was pleased that his creation had gotten the dark-haired boy's approval. "Just a wind jutsu. It wasn't too hard to get the hang of." Where he had found it was the seal-protected pouch at his side where he kept small, important things, like his atsuryokuha no jutsu scroll.

Sasuke was about to test out the horyuukubushi when Kakashi-sensei showed up and they went to get their first mission of the day from the Hokage.

* * *

This cat was annoying. They had been chasing Tora the cat for the better part of two hours already, and they still hadn't caught the damn thing. Naruto was about ready to take out one of his swords and zap the feline with a lightning bolt. That would stop it running away.

He had heard about the abominable Tora from his friends (team 10 had had to capture the cat twice, while team 8, with their specialty in tracking, had been forced to hunt it down five separate times), but had always thought they had been exaggerating the difficulty of the mission. Now, with team 7 finally having return the runaway kitty to its owner, the blonde saw that his friends had actually toned down just how frustrating the cat was. If he didn't know better, he would say the damn animal was part demon.

Now, though, they finally had it surrounded, and Tora had no way to escape. The blonde sent a kage bushin in to restrain the beast, only for the clone to freeze for a moment on looking into the cat's eyes before dispelling itself.

On receiving the memories of the dispelled clone, Naruto spoke into his radio. "Kakashi-sensei, there's something decidedly wrong with this cat."

Their sensei, who was off reading his favorite orange book, found the interruption annoying. "Nonsense, Naruto. Tora-chan is perfectly normal. I still remember all the times my teammates and I had to chase her down under Minato-sensei. She may be a difficult cat to catch, but she's still just a cat."

The blonde immediately noticed something strange about this. "Kakashi-sensei," he said quietly, forcing the jonin to turn up the volume on his radio "HOW OLD IS THAT DAMN CAT!?" It was looking more and more like there might be some truth to that part demon theory after all.

"Dobe, would you just hurry up and catch the thing so we can finish this mission?"

* * *

Five minutes later, they were in the Hokage's office, watching as Tora's owner hugged her "poor, frightened Tora-chan" with enough force that Naruto was sure an ordinary cat would have choked.

Once the fat lady left, he spoke up. "Ojiisan, that cat is part demon."

The old man gave him an amused look. "What do you mean, Naruto?"

"I mean," he said, pausing to take in a gulp of air, "IT'S NOT JUST A CAT! THAT MONSTER NEARLY SCRATCHED MY EYES OUT, IT SOMEHOW MANAGES TO EVADE EVERY SINGLE GENIN TEAM THIS VILLAGE HAS EVER PRODUCED FOR AT LEAST TWO HOURS, AND IT'S OVER A HUNDRED YEARS OLD!!" After they had captured the feline, the blonde had taken the opporunity to delve into its mind with his shinkagan.

The Hokage sighed. "You're right, Naruto. Tora was the daughter of the Nibi and one of the Daymio's housecats around the time of the Shodaime. The qualities it inherited from its demon parent, however, make it perfect practice for genin teams. And before any of you go tell anyone, this is an S-class village secret, only meant to be known by the Hokage."

Everyone on team 7, and Iruka-oniisan, who was helping give out missions, stared in shock.

"Now," the old man continued, "for team 7's next mission, we have picking up dog poop at the Inuzuka compound, babysitting the Ta-

"NO!" Naruto exclaimed. "No more of these worthless missions already. Chasing down hundred-year-old half-demon cats is where I draw the line. We're ready for a C-rank, Ojiisan. And Iruka-oniisan," he added, "we really are ready, so don't start shouting about how we're still new genin."

The chunin, who had been about to do exactly that, stopped. Naruto knew him too well, and he should at least put some faith in his little brother.

"Very well," said the aged Hokage, "I have a mission ready to go that will be perfect for your team. You can come in now, Tazuna-san." The last bit was called out to the door, which opened to reveal a man in his late fifties, wearing a straw hat and a sleeveless shirt. In one hand, he carried a jug of sake, from which he had clearly been drinking. His arms were well-muscled, as though he were used to heavy manual labor. Naruto judged him to be in essence a good person, wanting to help others, but he couldn't shake the feeling that the man was hiding something.

"These are the ninja you gave to protect me? That guy only has one eye, and these three look like kids! And you, blondie, have the stupidest face and worst fashion sense I've ever seen. Orange? What a stupid color!"

In an instant, Naruto drew one of his huge swords and held it straight at the man's neck. He spoke and looked at the man completely seriously but was cracking up with laughter on the inside. "Don't insult the color orange." With that, he sheathed his blade.

The Hokage spoke up again. "Now, as I was about to say, you will be escorting Tazuna-san back to his home in the Wave Country and once there you will stay with him as he completes the bridge he is building, all the while protecting him from any armed robbers or bandits who might attack. Understood?"

The blonde agreed along with the others, but he couldn't help but notice the spike in the bridge-builder's worry at the mention of "armed robbers or bandits."

* * *

All five decided to meet up at the west gate thirty minutes later after completing any needed preparations. Naruto sent a kage bushin after their sensei both to make sure the jonin arrived on time and to inform him of his suspicions about their client. Sasuke had already been fully prepared, so he spent the extra half-hour practicing his new jutsu. Sakura went to get extra medical supplies for the extended journey. Over the past two weeks, she had made astounding progress in the medical field and could treat mall but the gravest of wounds with ordinary treatment. She had even learned a minor healing jutsu for use on light wounds. Naruto used his time to make sure he was prepared for a B-rank, just in case, then decided that since he was finally on a serious mission, he would wear serious clothes.

On arriving at the gate, everyone took note of the blonde's outfit change. His new clothes were mostly dark green, with patches of dark brown on the shoulders, perfect for camouflage in the forest. They were fairly tight on his body, preventing any chance of the slight sound of shifting fabric giving away his location while also showing off his muscular body, but loose enough to allow completely free movement. In other words, they were ninja clothes of the highest quality that he had picked out specifically for this mission.

"What're you all staring at? Let's get going!" said the energetic boy, leading the way out the gates. His teammates and sensei followed, along with Tazuna, who couldn't help but wonder if maybe these four really could protect him.

* * *

The attack came when they had been walking for about three hours. Naruto was walking out in front, with Sakura and Sasuke on either side of Tazuna behind him, and Kakashi-sensei bringing up the rear. The blonde, who had stayed on high alert, sensed the two concealed chakra signatures even before the puddle, which his shinkagan identified as a genjutsu, came into sight. He looked Kakashi-sensei in the eye, then glanced toward the puddle, before returning his gaze to the jonin. The look in the man's eye said to wait for them to attack, then capture them. Judging by their chakra capacities, the two were barely at chunin level, something the three genin could handle by themselves.

Once Kakashi-sensei had gone a few feet past the puddle, the two ninja rose silently from the illusionary water. They rushed at the jonin and wrapped a spiked chain coming from their clawed gauntlets around him, shouting, "One down!" before tightening the deadly chain. Kakashi-sensei escaped using the most perfectly-timed kawarimi the blonde had ever seen combined with a subtle genjutsu. It actually looked like the man had been sliced to bloody chunks of meat.

By this time, the three genin had turned to face the foes, moving to shield Tazuna. Naruto could sense the shock coming off the other two at the sight of their sensei's "death," but both recovered swiftly enough.

The two ninja, both of whom had forehead protectors signaling them to hail from the Mist village, closed in on the blonde, who had moved closes to them and a bit away from his teammates. "Two down!" they shouted out, about to tighten the chain, only for Naruto to draw his swords and bring up a powerful wind chakra field around each of them, slicing through the chain and shredding it to pieces, in addition to putting a few minor cuts on both opponents.

The assassins backed off and regrouped for another assault. Naruto had sheathed his blades, wanting to be sure to take them alive, as Kakashi-sensei had silently ordered. While one charged the blue-eyed genin to keep him busy, the other headed towards Tazuna, Sakura, who had taken out a kunai, and Sasuke, who had activated the horyuukubushi. The blonde saw the men's eyes. Both were still underestimating them, despite his speed with the huge blades a moment ago.

The one coming for Naruto attempted a swipe with the claws on his gauntlet, which the blonde blocked with the sleeve of his shirt, putting enough chakra into it to harden the fabric to the strength of steel. The blonde used the momentum of the blow to spin himself around, trying to take the man's legs out with a sweeping kick. His opponent leapt slightly to avoid the attack, creating a perfect opening to give a hard punch to the man's stomach.

Naruto was careful to hold back a good deal on his punch to keep his opponent from being sent flying, but the blow was still powerful enough to knock the wind out of the man. The genin took the opportunity to spin around behind the enemy nin before grabbing the man's wrists in his left hand while with his right hand, he reached into his kunai pouch and drew out a chakra suppression seal then slapped it to the back of the man's head, effectively ending the fight.

Sasuke had a bit more trouble with his opponent. Not possessing the blonde's speed or the option of blocking the claws, he resorted to taking a hit to his forearm and grabbed the man's wrist with his other hand. He used his grip to pull his attacker forward before delivering a leaping kick to his chin.

Using the moment it took the man to recover, the Uchiha threw a punch at his chest, letting out a burst of flame to increase the pain. Kakashi chose that moment to step out of hiding and come up on the enemy nin from behind, putting a kunai to his neck.

"Naruto," the silver-haired jonin ordered, "Take these two into the woods and interrogate them while I talk to Tazuna-san." The blonde slapped another chakra suppression seal on the other assassin and dragged both into the forest.

"Now, Tazuna-san, would you mind telling us why you're being targeted by ninja?"

* * *

Naruto had tied the two ninja firmly to a tree. Then he performed the soundproofing jutsu he'd learned by watching Ojiisan. No need for his teammates to hear any screams. He went into serious mode, all traces of the energetic ramen-loving boy vanishing in an instant. "Just so you know ahead of time, I will get the information I want, and if you lie to me I will hurt you." He wanted to avoid using his shinkagan's mind-probing abilities if he could. The less people to know he had such a powerful bloodline the better. "Now, what are your names?"

"Kenza and Kazuo." answered the one the blonde had fought. They obviously weren't scared enough to talk yet.

"I warned you not to lie," the boy said while breaking their left arms simply by grabbing just above the elbows and twisting his wrists. With the chakra suppression seals limiting their chakra levels to that of an ordinary person, the bones snapped like twigs. They screamed in pain. "Now, let's try that again. What are your names?"

Both were a bit frightened at how he had known the names were fake and the ease with which their bones had snapped. "Gozu and Meizu," grunted out the one with a burn mark on his chest.

"Good. Who hired you?"

"We don't know. We work for Momochi Zabuza. Zabuza-sama ordered us to kill the old man."

"Tell me everything you know about Zabuza and anyone else working with him."

* * *

While Kakashi-sensei talked to their client and Naruto dragged the defeated nins into the forest, Sakura took a look at Sasuke's wound.

"It's not deep. Should heal soon enough given proper treatment. It seems those claws were poisoned, though. Hmm..." she said, pausing a moment to analyze the poison. "We're lucky. It's a common poison, and I have an antidote for it among my medical supplies." The pink-haired girl searched through the large bag at her side, before handing the boy a vial of bright green liquid. "Here, Sasuke-kun. Drink this."

He did as asked.

* * *

About twenty minutes later, Naruto came back out of the forest. "They're Gozu and Meizu, a pair of chunin missing-nins from the Mist village, who are listed in the bingo book as the Demon Brothers.

"They work under a jonin missing nin from Mist named Momochi Zabuza, who was one of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen and is called the Demon of the Mist. They don't know who hired Zabuza, they were just ordered to kill Tazuna-san. Zabuza is highly skilled and likes to open fights with his kirigakure no jutsu to make him hard to spot. He is a master of silent killing, and is able to track opponents by sound alone. He makes use of a variety of water jutsu and normally uses his zanbato in close combat.

"Also, working with Zabuza is a boy a bit older than the three of us named Haku. Haku has apparently been trained by Zabuza directly for much of his life and is completely loyal to the man. His preferred weapons in a fight are senbon, and he has a bloodline that allows him to use ice-elemental techniques."

Seeing that the blonde had finished, Kakashi-snsei spoke up. "And now, knowing what we face, we have to decide wether to continue this mission or not If we do continue, know that this will be classified as an A-rank mission on our return to Konoha. What do you three say? Sakura?"

The pink-haired girl gave her thoughts. "I think that between the four of us we can handle it, Kakashi-sensei. And I don't want to abandon Tazuna-san. If what he says is true, the people of Wave need him."

The jonin turned next to the Uchiha, who smirked. "One jonin and a kid with a bloodline limit? I think we can take them."

Then it was Naruto's turn. "Once I start something, I don't stop until I'm done. And Tazuna-san is a good person. I'm sure he had a reason for lying to us."

"Thank you, kids. You don't know how much this means to me," said the old bridge-builder.

"Okay, move out," the silver-haired jonin commanded. "I'll send a message to Konoha about the Demon Brothers and the updated mission status, and while we walk, I want Naruto filled in on what we learned from Tazuna-san. Excellent work with your first interrogation, by the way Naruto."

"Thanks, Kakashi-sensei," the blonde said, grinning proudly, "They only tried to lie to me five times."

As they continued, everyone explained to Naruto about how Gato was trying to destroy and take over Wave country, and Tazuna's bridge was the only thing that could stop him. The boy onle felt more sure that he had made the right decision.


	15. Chapter 15

**chapter 15**

**meeting Zabuza**

Team 7 and Tazuna were in a boat, floating across the small stretch of ocean between the mainland and Wave Country. All were remaining silent so as to avoid detection; even the boat owner had kept the engine off and was rowing them quietly across the water.

On getting their first glimpse of the bridge through the fog, the three genin couldn't help but gape at the pure size of the structure. It seemed to stretch on forever in either direction, but that migh have just been an optical illusion caused by the dense fog.

The boat owner, a friend of Tazuna's who had been waiting for them at a small fishing village, rowed them through a narrow concrete tunnel at the base of the huge bridge. On exiting, the sudden light and lack of fog made everything around them seem bright and beautiful, from the still, blue water to the small ancient trees growing along the banks of the small enclosure. Taking in the new colors of Wave Country, Naruto adjusted his clothes to match.

The boatman let the five off at a small dock. "This is as far as I can take you, Tazuna. We're all depending on you." And with those words, he started up the motor and went off through the water.

"Well, everyone follow me. My house is a few miles this way," said the old bridge-builder.

* * *

They had only been walking about ten minutes and were walking through an open stretch of grass with forest on either side and a cal, body of water behind them when Kakashi and Naruto picked up the chakra signatures. "They're here," the blonde quietly stated. He immediately made twenty kage bushins and had them dart into the trees while everyone went on high alert.

A zanbato suddenly flew towards the group through the mist at head level, and the ninja ducked, Kakashi pulling Tazuna to the ground. The large weapon embedded itself into a tree behind them., and when everyone turned around a man shunshined onto the sword's hilt.

He had dark hair and large black eyes. He wasn't wearing a shirt, so his lean, muscular upper body was visible. Covering his mouth were white bandages. On his appearance, the genin moved to surround Tazuna, all three deactivating their weight seals and the blonde his resistance seal as well. Naruto drew his swords, Sasuke activated the horyuukobushi no jutsu, and Sakura took out a kunai. Kakashi stepped towards the man.

"Momochi Zabuza. Demon of the Mist and a former member of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen. Labeled a missing-nin after attempting to assassinate the Mizukage and take over the Mist village."

Zabuza looked at him. "Hatake Kakashi. Konoha's Copy-nin. I see now why the Demon Brothers failed. I have to kill the old man, so please stand aside."

The Konoha jonin took another step towards the former Mist ninja. "My team and I are on a mission to protect Tazuna-san. I cannot do that. Also, credit for defeating those two goes to my students, not me."

"Oh?" Zabuza would have raised his eyebrows had he had any. "Interesting. Those two swords the blonde one has look useful. Maybe I'll take them once I kill him."

Naruto just gave the man a defiant glare.

Kakashi moved his hand to his forehead protector. "Well, it seems we will have to fight." He pushed the small metal plate up, revealing his sharingan.

"It seems we will." With that, Zabuza grabbed the handle of his zanbato and shunshined away. He reappeared on the water and began forming handseals.

"**Kirigakure no Jutsu"**

The entire open area was immediately covered in a thick mist. Naruto created a wind chakra field around his weapons and swept them about to clear the immediate area, and all three genin put as much chakra into their senses as they could, trying to locate Zabuza.

His voice seemed to come from all around them. "Hmm. You three are better than I thought. But you're still just kids!"

With those words, he sped toward the group, swinging his blade, only for Kakashi to suddenly dash in font of him and stop the weapon with a kunai. One of the kage bushins Naruto had made earlier used that chance to leap in and swing one of his swords at the enemy nin. Zabuza leapt away, but not quite fast enough to completely avoid the unexpected lightning chakra field that sprang up around the weapon.

The slight shock of the electricity gave the Konoha jonin a chance to swipe out with his kunai, leaving a small gash on his opponent's left shoulder. In retaliation, Zabuza swung amazingly quickly with the flat of his zanbato, both dispelling the shadow clone and hitting the sharingan user in the stomach, sending him flying toward the water.

As the kage bushin's memories flooded into him, he took note of a person the replica had seen: the source of the other chakra signature. He or she looked to be about fourteen or fifteen and was wearing an intricate garment that hung loosely around the person's body. But most interesting was the mask covering the individual's face, that of a hunter nin from Mist.

Kakashi hit the water back first, and before he could get himself standing on the surface, Zabuza appeared behind him and sped through several handseals.

"**Surio no Jutsu"**

And Kakashi became trapped in a sphere of water being created out of Zabuza's right arm. A mizu bushin he had made at some point stepped towards the genin and Tazuna.

"Naruto! Sasuke! Sakura! Take Tazuna and run! Leave me here!" shouted the silver-haired jonin.

"No way!" the blonde replied, "If we run, he'll kill you then come after us! And we're not ready to take on a jonin yet. But as long as he has to keep that jutsu up, he can't move from that spot. So we have the advantage." He turned to his dark-haired teammate, "Sasuke, come here. I've got an idea."

The two whispered together for about thirty seconds before simultaneously charging the mizu bushin. "Idiots," said the clone of Zabuza, swinging his zanbatou with both hands to cut the two young ninja in half. Naruto blocked the swing with both of his swords, leaving Sasuke open to punch the clone in the chest.

The punch combined with the burst of flame caused the mizu bushin to dispel and left the genin facing a Zabuza who couldn't move without letting Kakashi go. Sasuke threw three shuriken at the man, aiming for his arm where it stuck out from the sphere of water.

The missing-nin blocked the weapons with his zanbato, but in doing so he gave Naruto an opening. A bolt of lightning from the tip of one of the blonde's swords hit squarely on the flat of Zabuza's blade, and he was both forced to drop the weapon and thrown away from the sphere of water by the electricity. Having done their part, the two genin returned to guarding Tazuna.

As the two jonin fought, Sakura berated her teammates for leaving her alone to protect the bridge builder. "What were you thinking, Naruto? We know he has a strong ally in the area, and you two leave me by myself?"

The blonde soothed her concerns. "Remember those kage bushins I made earlier? If the other one had attacked, they would have held him off for a few seconds, and Sasuke and I would have returned to help you. As it is, though, I'm not sure he really is Haku. That kage bushin Zabuza destroyed a minute ago got a look at him, and while he looked to be about our age, he was also wearing the mask of a hunter-nin from the Mist village. That combined with his not having interfered yet either to help Zabuza or eliminate Tazuna makes me not so sure."

"And how'd you manage to miss him with that lightning bolt, dobe? At leat you managed to hit his weapon, or your oh-so-brilliant plan would have been for nothing."

"Idiot. If I'd aimed at him, teme, he could've dodged and Kakashi-sensei would have gotten hit. This way, Zabuza's at a big disadvantage because he's lost his weapon. And my plan did work; no need for something flashy and complex when simple gets the job done just as well."

Any further conversation was interrupted by a huge wave of water rushing past them with Zabuza at the very front and in obvious pain from the force. The man had several new deep cuts about his body, presumably from kunai strikes he had failed to avoid fully without the aid of his sword. After a moment, he slammed hard into a tree, and kunai struck deeply into his shoulders and arms. Kakashi shunshined to a low branch. "It's over. You die now, Zabuza."

Before the jonin could do anything, though, several senbon flew out of the trees and hit Zabuza in the neck, apparently killing him. _'Damn it!'_ Naruto thought, _'That _was_ Haku. And Kakashi-sensei's about to collapse, and from what I learned from those two earlier, I'm not sure I'd be able to stand up to him as I am right now, especially if he's wearing that mask. I'm so used to being able to read my opponents thanks to the shinkagan that I dobut I'd fight well enough if I haven't seen his eyes.. Our mission is simply to protect Tazuna. If they're going to retreat, we have to let them' _Thanks to his shinkagan, he was the only one who knew Zabuza was still alive. When someone he'd looked into into the eyes of died, it felt like something went missing from the back of his mind, and he could still feel the connection to the missing-nin's soul just fine.

Haku shunshined near Zabuza's still form, already holding his master's zanbato. "I would like to thank you for your help, Konoha ninja. I have been searching for a chance to kill him for a long time." With those words, he slung the man over his shoulder and shunshined away.

The five remaining in the former battle site regrouped at the base of the tree.

"DAMN IT!" shouted Naruto, punching the tree with enough force to render the base of the trunk a mass of splinters. "They got away, and Zabuza's still alive!"

As Tazuna and the other two genin just stared in shock, Kakashi spoke to the blonde, trying to calm him. "Naruto. Letting them go was the best decision at that point. With me about to collapse from chakra exhaustion, you three would not have been able to protect both myself and Tazuna-san while fighting Haku, especially with him intent on escaping. That Zabuza thinks we believe him dead may give us an advantage next time we meet. And he'll need at least two weeks to recover from those wounds, even if the boy is a skilled healer."

Naruto settled down. "I know. It's just... I feel we should have been able to do more. I just have a bad feeling about our next fight with him. I can't explain it. Anyway, Tazuna-san, which way to your house?"

"It's only a couple more miles. Follow me, everyone." As the bridge builder began to walk, Kakashi collapsed. Naruto picked up his unconscious body, reminding everyone that it was just chakra exhaustion, and they continued on their way.


	16. Chapter 16

**chapter 16**

**heroes of wave**

Naruto was walking with Tazuna as the man went on lunch break from working on the bridge. When the two had left that morning, Kakashi-sensei hadn't yet woken up, despite being cared for by both Sakura and Tazuna's daughter Tsunami. Sasuke had opted to not go with them, citing that Naruto would be enough protection since Zabuza and Haku were temporarily out of the picture. Instead, the Uchiha had gone off by himself to train.

Looking around the town, the blonde could feel and see the depressed atmosphere all around him. Everyone looked down, and they walked slowly and heavily. They had given up trying to fight and simply accepted Gato's control. Even the people he had seen working on the bridge earlier hadn't really seemed to have their hearts in the work. They were all just going on with their lives, not caring. These people needed hope; they needed that bridge.

Out of everyone he had seen of the island's residents, the only ones without that aura of despair around them were Tazuna and Tsunami. But Naruto could tell that the woman was barely holding up. She was trying to remain strong for her son while falling to pieces on the inside. It couldn't last for too much longer.

Then there was the boy himself, Tazuna's grandson Inari. The look in the child's eyes showed that he was suffering worse than anyone else. Just looking at the boy, Naruto felt like he was seeing someone whose entire world had just been destroyed and their every belief shattered. The blonde still remembered how he had felt after discovering the truth about the night of his birth. Inari reminded him of himself at that time, only with no Toshiro and Akkio to help him through and surrounded on all sides by this aura of defeat.

But it was more than just defeat. There was loss and sadness all around, too, as though the people had been broken not so much through just Gato's constant pressure so much as an event that had taken away every positive emotion. When he had first spoken with Inari, the child had run off in tears, screaming about how they were going to die for opposing Gato.

Naruto, realizing that the only way to gen any answers was to ask, decided to bring the situation up with the old bridge-builder. "Tazuna-san, just what happened here?"

"What do you mean?" the man replied, "Isn't it obvious? Everyone's given up. They've all just laid down and are letting Gato walk all over them."

The genin frowned. He was hiding something; or maybe not so much hiding as trying to avoid it. "That's not what I mean. I'm asking what caused this."

"Gato did. He came in and used his hired thugs to take over the place, and the people just quit trying." Yes, Tazuna was definitely keeping from talking about something.

"Then why," Naruto tried again, this time trying to make sure the old man couldn't dance around whatever it was, "is Inari so much worse off than everyone else? I want to help, but I can't do anything without knowing what happened."

The bridge-builder sighed. "Well, you certainly are a perceptive young man. Inari used to smile and laugh as much as anyone else in the world. A bit over three years ago, a fisherman came to this island from another country. The very first thing he did was to save my grandson from drowning.

"His name was Kaiza. After that, he and Inari became inseparable, like father and son. Inari's birth father died in a fishing accident before the boy's first birthday, and Kaiza, with his strong and caring nature, quickly filled in the gap in Inari's life. He and my daughter fell in love, and it wasn't long before they were married.

"One day, during a terrible storm, a large section of the town nearly flooded. Kaiza risked his own life to save it, doing what he had always said he would and 'protecting that which was important to him with his own two arms.' It was a saying he used to say to Inari all the time, to "Protect whatever's important to you with these two arms, even if it costs you your life." After that day, everyone in the country saw him as a hero.

"Then Gato came. It wasn't even half a year ago that he just walked in and used his money and mercenaries to take over Wave country. People opposed him at first, and Kaiza, being the kind of man he was, led those people. As punishment, Gato had him executed publicly, and the last thing he did in life was to smile at Inari.

"All the hope and courage the people had died with him that day, and Inari could only bring himself to view it all as his father breaking his promise to always protect them."

Naruto listened to the tale silently, absorbing it piece by piece and seeing where it was headed long before it got there. He wished he could have met Kaiza; he seemed like a remarkable man. "Tazuna-san," th blonde said solemnly, "I swear I will do everything in my power to help Inari and the people of this country."

* * *

When they returned to the bridge-builder's house that afternoon, it was to find Kakashi-sensei already up and about with the aid of crutches. The silver-haired jonin informed him that he would be taking him, Sakura, and Sasuke into the forest for special training.

And so Naruto found himself staring at his sensei as the man nonchalantly stood upside-down from a high tree branch. The blonde could tell that this chakra control exercise would be extremely difficult. Not only would they have to keep a bit of chakra still inside their feet, but it had to be a precise amount of chakra.

Knowing that with his colossal chakra reserves he had a tendency to put too much chakra into everything he did, the energetic took his time to make sure he only had a small amount of chakra in his feet before he began. Watching his two teammates, Naruto saw that Sakura's excellent chakra control allowed her to get the exercise on her first try, while Sasuke had put a bit too much chakra into it after a moment.

Naruto ran towards his tree, trying to keep the chakra in his feet steady. He placed his right foot onto the bark only for the base of the tree to simply explode, sending him flying backwards. Getting up from where he had smashed hard into another tree, the blonde decided that on his next attempt he would put the smallest amount of chakra he possibly could into the exercise.

Kakashi-senssei spoke up. "Good work, Sakura. It seems you really do have by far the best chakra control of the group. Sasuke, you failed to maintain the amount of chakra in your feet and put a bit too much in. Naruto, you need to try putting about two hundred times less chakra into your feet to start with. Now, everyone try again. Sakura, start walking up and down the tree until you have the hang of it."

This time, Naruto didn't use enough chakra and fell to the ground. Well, better than his first attempt. Once he got a good estimate as to the necessary amount of chakra, he created about fifty kage bushins to work with him on maintaining the chakra.

"What're you doing, dobe?" asked his dark-haired teammate after having fallen a fifth time.

"Using kage bushins to speed up my learning, teme. When they dispel, their memories return to the creator, so with fifty of me doing this at once, I can learn fifty times faster." He knew what was coming.

"Teach me that jutsu," the Uchiha demanded.

Naruto looked at him sternly. "No. You don't have the chakra reserves or stamina to make use of it yet. At most, you'd be able to make one clone, and the both of you would be low on chakra from doing it. When you get enough chakra to use it without making yourself useless, I'll teach it to you."

Sasuke tried to continue his demands, but the blonde ignored him. They all stayed out training until it was time for dinner.

* * *

The better part of a week had gone by, and the two boys of team 7 were still hard at work attempting to climb trees. Both had made it to the point where they could run all the way up without falling, but neither was satisfied with that. They wanted to master this exercise to the point where attaching themselves to a surface became second nature. Naruto was finding himself having quite a bit of trouble. Just as with performing genjutsu, his chakra was just too wild to stay in one place without heavy concentration.

And part of his mind was always thinking about Inari. He wanted to help the boy but was unsure of how to go about doing so. If he were to try and approach him offering comfort, the child would run away crying and not listen to a word he would say. He needed to wait for him to bring up the topic, or at least something that could lead to it, then do something drastic to make him see the truth. His chance came at dinner that night, when he and Sasuke arrived exhausted from training.

Everyone ate in silence for several minutes before Inari burst out, "Why do you keep trying so hard?! It's not like it'll make any difference! Gato is going to win no matter what you do!"

Naruto stared across the table into the child's large black eyes. "What makes you think that? Of course we'll win as long as we try hard enough."

"How can you say that?! You with your confident attitude and big words, smiling and laughing all the time! You must have had such a spoiled happy life to know so little about the world like that! You have no idea what real pain is!"

The temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees, as the blue eyes took on an icy quality. When Naruto spoke, his voice was completely calm, those clear, deep blue eyes showing the child the wealth of emotions he was keeping from his words. "I have no idea what true pain is? I know more about pain than you ever will. Imagine going through every day of your life receiving nothing but glares of hate from the people around you. Hate and resentment for something you never did and had no control over. Imagine having no friends, and every child your age screaming that you're a monster before running off to their mommy and daddy, something you can never do, because you have no parents.

"Imagine that, then imagine finding out that much of what you've been told all your life is a lie and that a person you had once respected and honored above all others was the complete opposite of what everyone had always believed him to be. Imagine all that, and you might get an idea of what my life has been like.

"You, though, need to stop moping about like it's the end of the world. Tazuna-san told me about your dad, and how close you two were. How do you think he'd feel to see you moping around crying all the time? Is that what he'd want for you? To be a crybaby the rest of your life? The world isn't fair, and bad things happen to good people all the time. But does that mean you should just lay down and give up? Let one person's death get rid of everything he inspired in you? No. You deal with it. You're sad for a while, then you move on. And you don't forget that person or try to pretend he never existed. You honor him by living your life in a way he would have wanted. Now get out of my sight, unless you're ready to start being a responsible person, instead of the crybaby you are right now."

With that, he got up and walked out of the house.

Everyone just sat there not moving for several minutes, each with their own thoughts.

Kakashi was riveted on the second part of what Naruto had said, about someone he had once respected turning out false.

Sakura's mind went back to the conversation she had had with the blonde three weeks ago. She had known no one liked him, but she had no idea it was that bad.

Sasuke identified with him through the loss of his own parents, and the betrayal of Itachi.

Tazuna remembered the boy's vow to help his grandson, and couldn't stopp wondering if he hadn't gone too far.

Tsunami was mostly worried about Inari, who seemed to be barely even breathing. She couldn't help but think of her late husband as well, though, and what he would have said to his son in this situation.

Inari couldn't help but wonder if he had really been telling the truth. Had he really gone through all that? How was he always so happy, then? And what would tousan say if he saw him like this, just doing nothing as the people he cared about were in so much pain? Tousan had kept his promise. He had protected the things important to him with his own two arms, and it had cost him his life. Could he really bring himself to stand up against Gato after what he had done to tousan?

He got up and followed the blonde ninja out the door.

* * *

Naruto took out his pent-up emotions on the first trees he found. After reducing them to nothing but splinters, he felt Inari approaching. "Thinking about what I said?"

"Y-yeah. But, even if I do try to do something, what good can I do? I'm just a little kid. Without tousan around, I can't even stand up for myself, let alone try to help anyone else," the boy answered.

"You can only ever be as strong as you think you are," the blonde said, turning to stare at him, "You say you felt strong when your tousan was around. Well, I want you to try and imagine him being around right now and the way he made you feel. And as for you being a little kid, you're only a few years younger than me; I'm still a kid too. You just have to not let that worry you."

"But you're a ninja. You can do all sorts of things I'll never be able to do."

"Being a ninja or not being a ninja has nothing to do with it. It's just a matter of wether or not you're determined enough to do the things you have to do."

"But what are the things I have to do? I see what you're trying to say, but I just don't know how I can help."

"Well, for one thing, your mom needs you, Inari. I know she looks like she's doing fine, but in reality she's just pretending for your sake. She loved your dad and is probably hurting just as much as you are right now. If you can manage to go back to the happy smiling boy you used to be, I'm sure it would help her."

"A-all right. Thank you, Naruto-niisan"

The blonde froze in surprise and happiness. Naruto-niisan. No one had _ever_ called him that before. Even Konohamaru just referred to him as "boss."

"You know what, Inari? I'm going to teach you something. It's a meditation exercise that should help you clear your mind so you can figure things out for yourself. It's also the first thing taught to anyone who wants to be a ninja. Are you paying attention?"

The black-eyed boy looked at him seriously, knowing that what he was about to learn would be something important. "Yes, Naruto-niisan."

"Good. Now, sit down cross-legged, and let your hands fall to your sides. Then, you have to close your eyes and slowly try to tune out all your other senses, closing your brain off from the world around you. Try not to think about anything, either. You just want to feel inside yourself with your mind, searching for the energy flowing through your body. Don't worry if you can't sense anything, though. It takes most people months of doing this every day before it works completely, but it should still let you get rid of all those pesky thoughts that make you cry all the time. Got all that?"

Inari smiled at him. "Yep, Naruto-niisan, I got it"

The blonde nodded approvingly. "You're a smart kid, Inari. If you want to give it a try right now, go ahead. I'm here to help you if you need it."

Getting the hang of it amazingly quickly, Inari was soon in a deep trance. Naruto stood there watching him for nearly a half hour. He was about to bring the younger boy out of it when he noticed something.

Inari's small chakra flow was changing. Increasing, becoming slightly faster and larger. The genin was shocked. Never in all the time of there being ninjas had anyone ever managed to feel their chakra on their first attempt. Yet here was a little boy from a small fishing village in the middle of nowhere who had done just that.

Naruto sensed the chakra flow returning to normal and removed the surprise from his expression as the boy came out of the trance and opened his eyes.

"Naruto-niisan, what was that?!" he asked excitedly.

"That, Inari," explained the blonde, knowing exactly what he was talking about, "was your chakra. The energy constantly flowing through your body and keeping you alive. It's sort of the energy of life itself, and is the key to all abilities as a ninja. That you were able to find your chakra inside of yourself on your first try like that is extremely impressive and completely unheard of."

The child's face took on an expression of awe. "Whoa. So, does that mean I could be a ninja?"

"You'd be starting a year or so later than most do, but if you were to try hard and not give up then I'm sure you could," said Naruto, knowing what was coming next.

Inari began leaping about in joy. "Awesome! Would you train me, Naruto-niisan, right now, _please_?" He gave the blonde the cutest, most adorable face he had ever seen, and Naruto simply couldn't bring himself to say no to those excited, enthusiastic huge black eyes.

And so, after popping into the house to tell everyone that he and Inari would be off talking for most of the night and promising to send him to bed at a reasonable time, the genin led the boy into the forest to teach him the basics of chakra and its many uses, just as Iruka-oniisan had done for him so long ago.

* * *

Inari had been learning at a ridiculous rate. It had only been a few hours, and he was already controlling his chakra flow within his body and using it to boost his speed and strength. By this point, though, the young boy was near-asleep with exhaustion.

"That's enough for the night, Inari. You need to get to bed now. I'll train you some more tomorrow," the blonde said sternly.

"But Naruto-sensei," the black-eyed boy complained, "I can still go for a bit more. You said I'd be really far behind everyone else my age, so I need to work as hard as I can to make up for missed time. And I want to make tousan proud."

Naruto had insisted that he be called sensei during training and only during training. "If you work yourself too far, you'll suffer from chakra exhaustion, and you definitely don't want that. And if I don't get you to bed soon, your mom will kill me." With that, he picked up the tired boy and headed back towards the house, letting Inari have his first experience of tree-leaping.

"Naruto-niisan..." the child started.

"Hmm?"

"Thank you, Naruto-niisan, for everything."

"You're welcome, Inari."

After dropping the boy off in his bed, the blonde genin ignored his own advice and went back to the forest, where he trained until passing out on the ground a few hours before sunrise.


	17. Chapter 17

**chapter 17**

**precious**

Naruto found himself being awakened from his slumber on the forest floor by someone shaking him gently.

"You're going to catch a cold if you sleep there." The voice sounded slightly familiar, as though he had heard it once or twice before, but his groggy mind couldn't quite recognize it. He opened his eyes.

The person was beautiful. Long black hair framed a perfectly-shaped face. And large brown eyes... eyes that showed the blonde the purest soul he had ever seen. But he could also see sadness and loneliness in those eyes, as though their owner had suffered greatly in the past. But the pain only made that pure soul shine all the brighter.

He could tell by the scent that it was a boy, about fifteen years old. There was something familiar about his scent, as well, but Naruto couldn't place it yet.

"Thanks for waking me, nii-chan, but there's no need to worry. I don't think I can get sick."

He looked surprised. "How did you know I was a boy?"

The blonde gave a truthful explanation. "I have a sensitive nose, and boys and girls smell different. What are you doing out here?"

"Picking herbs," he answered, holding up a basket, "What about you? What were you doing that you fell asleep in the middle of the forest all by yourself?"

Naruto suddenly placed the voice and scent, and he realized why both were familiar when he was sure he'd never before seen the boy's face. This was Haku.

But... Haku was completely devoted to Zabuza. Why would someone so pure blindly trust someone so obviously evil? The blonde noticed the brown-eyed boy patiently waiting for an answer.

The blue-eyed boy started helping the other with his herb hunting as he decided just how to answer the question.

The truth couldn't hurt in this case. "Training."

Haku's eyes widened in feigned surprise. "Training? Are you a ninja?"

"Yep! I'm Uzumaki Naruto, by the way. What's your name?" he asked, pretending to be curious.

"Haku. But why were you training, Naruto?"

He was surprised the boy had given his real name. "To get stronger, of course!" He decided to answer any questions truthfully without giving away any dangerous information.

"Why would you need to do that? You look pretty strong already." Haku was clearly not satisfied with his answer.

Naruto grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck. "You think so? Thanks. But I need to get stronger still because it's my dream to be Hokage someday!"

"Oh? So do you want power for yourself or for others?" His voice and expression took on a serious tone, as though he truly cared about the blonde's answer.

"Huh?" he asked in response.

"Your training to get stronger," Haku explained, "are you doing it for yourself or for others? It is my belief that a person can only become truly strong when protecting someone precious to them. Do you have any precious people?"

That last question was one that he needed no time to think about. "Yes, I have lots of precious people. So I guess, since I'm becoming stronger to better protect them, and I want to be Hokage to protect everyone in my home, then yes, I'm doing it for others. What about you? Do you have any precious people?"

"Only one. But he means more to me than anything else in the world." The brown-eyed boy's entire being seemed to glow as he thought of the man he cared for so much.

Naruto chose this moment to ask the question that had been bothering him throughout their conversation. He made sure to stay completely amiable and non-threatening as he spoke. "That would be Zabuza, right? What did he do for you that made him so important?"

Haku only looked shocked for a second. "Yes. When did you recognize me?"

The blonde picked up on the sudden wariness in the other boy's voice. "Just after I started helping you pick herbs. Don't worry; right now, we're just two people meeting in the forest. I give you my word that I won't try to harm you."

The older boy relaxed noticeably. "Thank you. As for why Zabuza-sama is so precious to me, that is something personal."

Naruto adopted a serious expression. "You know, telling others about your pain helps. I learned that from experience."

Haku was visibly stunned at the sheer feeling of truthfulness behind the blonde's words. "W-what do you mean?"

"You've had a painful life," he answered, blue eyes shining, "I can tell. Well, my life has been painful and lonely as well. Talking to others about it helps the pain."

"Why do you want to know about my past?" the brown-eyed boy asked.

Naruto decided to be completely truthful. "You have the purest soul of anyone I've ever met. I've known you for all of five minutes, and for the moment we have opposing goals, but I want to be your friend. Have you ever had a friend before? It's a certain kind of precious person who you relate to in some way, and you feel completely comfortable just talking to them. Friends are one of the best things to have in life."

Haku looked at the genin incredulously. "You know we'll end up fighting again, right? How can you possibly want me as a friend when I might end up killing you or your precious people?"

"Like I said, I don't care," said the blonde, "Also, you don't seem like the type to kill unless forced to, and neither of my teammates are skilled enough that you'd have to kill them to defeat them. Are you willing to be my friend, Haku?"

Naruto stretched out his hand to the older boy, who only hesitated a moment before before taking it. "Yes. Maybe a friend would be good to have. But you understand that I would do anything, even kill or give my life, for Zabuza-sama, right?"

"Yes. And the same goes for me and my precious people," the younger boy replied.

"I understand." Haku looked at him questioningly. "You said that talking to others about your pain helps? All right, I'll tell you, Naruto-kun."

The genin suddenly looked around him. "Thank you, and if you wish I can tell you about myself, but not here. I sense one of my teammates approaching; let's go somewhere else."

* * *

The two had moved to a different section of forest, and Haku began his story. "I was born on my parents' farm near a small village in Water Country. I lived there happily with my mother and father for the first several years of my life. My parents were kind people who loved me and each other dearly. But then..."

He was wondering how best to continue without revealing too much about himself. Seeing this, Naruto interjected, "Your bloodline limit, right? Ice element and a degree of control over water? The Demon Brothers didn't try very hard to keep secrets. I have a bloodline limit too, so I have a bit of an idea how people with them are treated by many."

"Yes, my bloodline began to develop. It came from my mother, who was the only survivor of her clan's massacre long before. She had kept it a secret from my father and had hoped I wouldn't inherit it but...

"When I first made a floating ball of water between my hands, I was so excited. I went to show my mother what I could do, and it was the only time she ever hit me. She warned me to never tell anyone, and everything would have been fine, but neither of us knew that my father had seen everything.

"That night, a mob came to our farm from the nearby town, my father at the head. He killed my mother and would have killed me too, but... I'm still not completely sure what happened. I remember him coming towards me with his bloody knife, and I was so scared and frightened, and then, the next thing I knew, everyone was dead, impaled by giant spikes of ice. And I was completely alone."

The blonde just looked at him, unsure of what to say.

"I kept on going like that for I don't know how long. Just living, sleeping on streets, scrounging meals out of the garbage. I had no purpose in life, I just went from day to day, hoping something would happen to make it all better.

"And that's when Zabuza-sama found me. He took me in, cared for me, trained me, and most importantly, he needed me. He knew about my bloodline and wanted me for it. He gave me a dream: to be useful to him. That is what I live for now. He saved me from being nothing, and I am repaying him in the only way I can."

Naruto picked herbs in silence for a minute while thinking over the older boy's story. "I see, so because Zabuza came along and gave you a way to ignore your pain, you don't even care about how bad a person he might be. I may not agree with you, but I understand you, and I know there's no point trying to argue, so I won't waste our time."

"Thank you for that," Haku said gratefully, "You offered to tell your own story, I believe. I am curious how eyes as young as yours can have so much pain."

"Have you ever heard of the Kyuubi no Kitsune?" the blue-eyed boy asked.

"You mean the great demon fox the Konoha's Yondaime Hokage killed over twelve years ago, dying in the process? Hasn't everyone?"

"Hah," Naruto let out a hollow laugh, "I wish that were true. What I'm about to tell you, you have to swear to me you'll never repeat to anyone, even Zabuza, all right?"

Haku looked puzzled, but agreed anyway. "I swear."

"Okay. That night, neither the Kyuubi nor that man died, and I'm one of the only people to know the truth. The man everyone knew and loved as Namikaze Minato isn't who people thought he was. He's really a power-obsessed bastard who wants to turn himself into a god. When the Kyuubi attacked Konoha, it was because he had cast a genjutsu on the demon. He told a few "trusted" others his "plan" for defeating the beast. He would use a sealing jutsu he had developed to seal the demon kitsune away into a newborn baby, his son, at the cost of his own life. That baby also happened to be me.

"His real plan was to use a different sealing jutsu that sacrificed another, my mother Uzumaki Kushina in this case, to trap the demon inside himself and combine its power with his own to become a god. Interestingly enough, the jutsu mistargeted when Mother interrupted him, resulting in the Kyuubi being sealed into me. He used some kind of jutsu to make Mom's body look like his and vanished.

"As I grew up, everyone hated me for the demon sealed inside me. There was a law in place that no children could know, but that didn't stop all the kids in the orphanages from copying the cruel behavior of the adults. I was beaten, starved, and glared at every day of my life. The glares were the worst part, the way people look at you with hatred, contempt, and fear mixed together in their eyes.

"Thankfully, it wasn't long before I met my first precious person. Iruka-oniisan came into my life and adopted me as a little brother. His presence did nothing about the beatings and glares, though. He got me started on my ninja training at a young age, and I made more precious people along the way.

"Then, a bit after I turned eight, I learned about the monster inside of me. I needed some time away from the glares, so I left Konoha. My first day away from the village, I learned who my parents were, and after meeting the fox, I discovered the truth about that man and what I told you earlier. That was when Toshiro and Akkio found me.

They were husband and wife, two older farmers living by themselves on their small farm in the forests of Fire Country. They were kind to me and cared for me and became people I could talk to. Without the two of them, I would never have made it through that part of my life with my sanity intact.

And then bandits killed them both. I buried them, then followed the bandits back to their camp and slaughtered them. After that, I went back to Konoh, where Iruka-oniisan helped me through my feelings about what I had done.

And from there my life has been pretty happy. I've made friends, became a ninja, and here I am today."

Haku looked over at his new friend amazed at all he had gone through. "I see what you mean about friends having things in common. And talking and hearing about you did help. We should both probably get going now, though. The day is passing us by."

"You're right. There's things to be done and people to talk to. If you wouldn't mind telling me, when will we next meet?" the blonde asked.

The older boy paused for a moment, debating wether to answer or not. "Zabuza-sama will be fully recovered by the day after tomorrow. In three days, expect to see us on the bridge. I just realized you never told me about your bloodline"

"Oh, it's not something that can be actively used in combat. It does let me read my opponents easily, though. I'll tell you more after we meet again." The blue-eyed boy began to walk away, before turning around to say one last thing, "Oh, by the way, Kyuubi's a girl." Naruto left laughing at his new friend's wide eyes and hanging jaw.


	18. Chapter 18

**chapter 18**

**preparations**

The moment Naruto stepped inside Tazuna's house, Inari accosted him. "Naruto-niisan! Where have you been? You promised to spend time with me again!"

He had told the little boy to not let his mother know about the training for the time being. The blonde wanted to bring up the subject with the woman himself, worried about what her reaction might be. "I will, Inari, don't worry. But right now, I need to talk to Kakashi-sensei." He gave the jonin a look, letting him know that it would need to be a private conversation.

Tsunami spoke up at this point. "Well, Naruto, I don't know what you said to Inari last night, but thank you. I haven't seen him happy like this since..."

"Thank you, Tsunami-san," the blonde ninja said, "By the way, where are the others?"

The answer came from the silver-haired man, "Sasuke is off training. Sakura is guarding Tazuna-san as he works at the bridge. Now, you said you wanted to speak with me?"

"Yeah. Would you mind if we talked outside?" the genin asked while heading back to the door. Kakashi-sensei followed.

* * *

"All right, Naruto," the one-eyed jonin started, "What's so important that you have to tell me in private?"

The blonde decided to come straight out with it. "The fight with Zabuza and Haku will happen on the bridge in three days."

Kakashi-sensei's gray eye widened momentarily. "How can you be so sure?"

"I met Haku in the forest this morning. And I know he was telling the truth because my shinkagan would have picked up any attempt at lying."

The man's eye widened even further. "You met Haku? What happened? Tell me."

"I had stayed out late training and fell asleep on the forest floor. Haku woke me. He pretended not to know me, but I recognized him pretty quickly. We talked for a while; he's actually a very interesting person" Naruto gave a brief review of their conversation, editing out that they had become friends and shared life stories.

"Also, Kakashi-sensei, I have a suggestion for when we fight," the genin said, "Let Sasuke try and take on Haku by himself first while you fight Zabuza and Sakura and I protect Tazuna. Sasuke needs to learn what it's like to lose a serious fight, and Haku isn't the type to kill unless he has no other option. And I'll take over once he loses."

The jonin looked at his student in surprise. "That's actually a good idea, Naruto, but how can you be sure Haku is the way you think he is?"

A flash of anger passed through the boy's blue eyes. "I'm not the type to play around with the lives of my friends. I know Haku because my shinkagan showed me his soul, and it's the purest soul I've ever encountered in my life. He won't kill unless absolutely necessary, and Sasuke is at a different enough level that it won't be necessary."

"Sorry, sorry. All right, was there anything else you wanted to say, Naruto?" Kakashi-sensei asked.

"Actually, there was," the blonde began, "It's about Inari. Last night, after I talked to him a bit, I taught him the meditation exercise for feeling one's chakra to give him a way of clearing his mind of any negative thoughts. His very first time trying it, he acessed his chakra after only thirty minutes of meditation. So I went on to teach him the basics of chakra, and he just soaked up everything I said. By the time I made him go to bed, the boy was already using chakra to enhance his movements a bit. And I'm wondering how to proceed from here."

The one-eyed man grew progressively more amazed as his student told him what had happened the previous night. For someone to go from no ninja knowledge to the beginnings of chakra control in only a few hours should have been completely impossible. Yet he couldn't deny the slight change he had felt in Inari's chakra signature.

"Well, Naruto, before you do anything more with the boy, you should talk to both him and his mother, to be sure that you come to the best decision for all involved. If everyone agrees that continuing basic ninja training would be for the best, then you should simply keep up with what you're doing. Continue teaching him the basics, have him do physical exercises, and definitely work on increasing his chakra capacity.

"As for you, be sure not to do any serious training yourself the day before the fight. We'll all need to be in top condition. Now, I'm going to go find Sasuke and Sakura and let them both know when the fight will take place." With these words, the jonin dismissed the blonde and left to search for his other two students.

* * *

"Tsunami-san, may I speak with you for a moment?" Naruto had decided to talk to the woman right away, as his sensei had advised. He figured he should let Inari hear this as well, since it was about the young boy in the first place.

"Of course, Naruto, whatever you want," Tsunami responded, taking a break from her housework.

The genin wasn't quite sure how to best tell the mother that her son had great potential and seemed interested in a highly dangerous and oftentimes morally ambiguous career. "Last night, when I was talking with Inari, I taught him a meditation exercise to help him clear his mind and, well..."

The blonde was too nervous to continue, but Inari spoke up at that point. "Naruto-niisan says that if /i work hard enough, I could become a really great ninja someday and be able to protect you and jisan, like tousan would have wanted!"

Tsunami didn't know how to react. Naruto could see the emotions flickering across her face in rapid succession: shock that her son seemed so interested in something that could end up hurting him, fear of what might happen to him if he did become a ninja, joy at the excitement and happiness radiating from her only child, pride in her boy for his wish to be like the man she had loved. Slowly, the positive emotions began to win out, but there was still doubt.

"Are you sure that's what you want to do with your life, Inari?" she asked, "Being a ninja is dangerous, and you'll have to spend a long time away from home."

The blonde spoke up before the black-eyed boy could say anything, pleased that the woman had taken it so well, "There's no need to answer right away, Inari. And as for being away from home, I'm sure that we'll be able to make it so you can come back often. You mother is right, though. I didn't have time to tell you last night, but it's an extremely dangerous occupation to be a ninja, and you have to be completely sure it's what you want before you decide. With your mother's permission, though, I'd like to continue with the basic training we started last night."

"All right, I'll think for a while, Naruto-niisan." After saying this he turned to his mother, pleading, "But can I keep going for now, kasan, pleeeease? It was really fun and everything."

Tsunami knew it was futile to try and resist her son's puppy-dog-eyes look. She smiled. "All right, just make sure you don't get hurt."

Both boys grinned, shouted, "Thanks!" and dashed out of the house.

* * *

Kakashi found Sasuke in the woods, practicing the horyuukuboshi no jutsu. He now had enough control of the jutsu and his chakra to make the bursts of flame come from his feet as well as his hands.

"Sasuke, stop for a moment," the silver-haired jonin ordered.

"What do you want, Kakashi?" He was a bit angry that he wasn't receiving the one-on-one training the man had practically promised during their discussion that day back in Konoha.

The gray-eyed man looked at him nonchalantly. "Now, now. No need to be upset. You know you have two other teammates I need to train as well. Anyway, I came here to let you know that I've discovered some intel on Zabuza's status. He'll be healed in two days' time and come after Tazuna-san again the next. When that happens, I want you to face off against Haku while I take Zabuza and the other two protect Tazuna-san. Your fire-based jutsus should help against his ice-element bloodline."

The Uchiha smiled at the chance to fight a real opponent. "Whatever. I'll go back to training now."

* * *

Naruto took Inari to the same part of the forest they had trained in last time.

"Okay, now listen up. As I explained yesterday, channeling chakra to your muscles multiplies their strength, so it's important for ninjas to be in excellent physical condition. Can you tell me why?"

The young boy thought for a moment, "Umm... because the stronger they are to start with, the more the chakra will help?"

"Exactly!" Naruto shouted, "So today and every day from now on, we're going to start off with physical exercises. To start off, I want you to do twenty-five pushups, and if I catch you using chakra, I'll make it fifty."

"Yes, Naruto-sensei," Imari said.

As the black-eyed boy started on his task, the genin began his own workout alongside him.

* * *

Sakura and Tazuna found themselves being drawn aside from their guarding and working respectively by a certain silver-haired jonin,

"Kakashi-sensei?" the pink-haired kunoichi asked, "What's the matter?"

The man got right to the point. "I've discovered when and where our net confrontation with Zabuza will be."

The eyes of both his listeners widened in fear. "He will be here, on the bridge, in three days. Tazuna-san, if you could cancel work for that day to avoid any unnecessary casualties."

The bridge-builder went off to do as asked immediately. "Sakura, when we fight, I want you to guard Tazuna-san along with Naruto. I will deal with Zabuza, and Sasuke will fight Haku. If he fails or needs immediate help, Naruto will take over. Your job will be to guard against any unexpected attempts to kill Tazuna-san and to heal Sasuke and Naruto if they need it. Any questions?"

The girl did have one, "Kakashi-sensei, if we know when and where they will strike, why are we taking Tazuna-san with us?"

The one-eyed jonin gave her an eye-smile. "Ah, I thought you would be the one to ask that. If Zabuza and Gaku arrive at the bridge and don't see their target, there's no guarantee that they won't retreat and go find him. And the four of us leaving him alone also opens him up to any mercenaries Gato may have hired. As strange as it may sound, the afest place for him is in the middle of the fight."

"I see, Sensei. Thank you," Sakura said gratefully, returning to her guard duty.

* * *

Naruto stood, grinning brightly. "Ahh, now wasn't that a good warm-up?"

Inari was sprawled out on the grass next to him, covered in sweat and panting heavily. "Naruto... niisan... you evil... torturer."

The blonde smacked him on the head. "What did I tell you? When training, you call me Naruto-sensei. Just for that, I want you to do twenty more squats. And if I hear one complaint come out of your mouth, I'll make it two hundred. I don't care if we're out here all day."

Painfully and slowly, the black-eyed boy did as instructed. When he had finished, the genin spoke again. "Very good, Inari. It'll get easier as time goes on. Now, before you go to bed tonight, I want you to spend at least an hour meditating and increasing the chakra flow to all your muscles. It'll speed up their recovery and enhance their growth. Have some water."

The smaller boy sipped the offered liquid slowly as had been instructed to avoid nausea and vomiting. "Thank you, Naruto-sensei. Are we done for the day, or will there be more?"

The blonde looked at his exhausted student. "I'll give you an hour to rest and eat lunch, then we'll work on using chakra to heighten your reaction time. After that, I'll teach you how to throw a kunai, Then we'll move on to an exercise to increae your chakra reserves, which are currently severely lacking."

* * *

The next two days proceeded similarly. Sakura protected Tazuna as he worked before fitting in some training in the evening. Sasuke trained most of the day. Kakashi rested up to make sure he would be fully healed in time. Naruto focused on Inari, but left a good chunk of time open for himself, during which he worked mostly on his swords and his lightning element, having sufficiently mastered the tree-walking exercise.

On the second day, all four ninjas and the old bridge-builder were a bit tense, but none of them showed it. Kakashi had years of ninja training to hide his emotions, Sasuke just kept up his mask of indifference like always, Tazuna and Sakura made sure to remain outwardly calm for Tsunami and Inari's sakes, and Naruto had learned how to keep emotions to himself when necessary before reaching his first birthday. The three genin were careful to avoid overexerting themselves on the second day, even though the blonde was sure that the fox allowed him to completely recover with just a full night's sleep.

Finally, the third day since Naruto's meeting with Haku came, and the five headed to the bridge, the young ninjas prepared for their most difficult and dangerous battle yet.


	19. Chapter 19

**chapter 19**

**the bridge**

It was mid-morning when the four ninja and the old man arrived on the nearly-finished bridge. Except for them, the structure was devoid of life. As they stood there, a mist began to descend around them, and the ninja took up defensive positions surrounding their client. Naruto had chosen to revert his clothes to his favorite orange-and-black, as stealth would be useless in the middle of a fight, especially against opponents of the caliber they would be facing.

From out of the mist in all directions charged ten mizu bushins of Zabuza. The genins and jonin eliminated the weak clones with kunai slashes or, in the blonde's case, sword swings, the water from the destroyed bushins falling in puddles around them.

Zabuza and Haku both emerged from the mist from the landward direction, cutting off any escape. The two nins both looked exactly as they had on their first meeting, except that Zabuza had a few scars on his bare chest from the previous fight, and Haku had removed his mask, his long hair kept out of his face by a Mist headband.

Kakashi was the first to speak. "So, Zabuza, we meet again. And you must be Haku."

"Indeed I am. It is good to meet you openly, Kakashi-san. I only wish the circumstances were better," the brown-eyed boy began, "Before we get started, though, you should know that Gato has sent a pair of samurai to Tazuna-san's house to kidnap his daughter. Zabuza-sama disapproves of this cowardly action."

All five, especially Tazuna and Naruto, felt themselves filling with fear for Tsunami and Inari.

The silver-haired jonin looked at the blue-eyed boy. "Go, Naruto. We'll get along without you until your return." The boy left in an orange-and-blonde blur, having already deactivated his seals.

"All right, both of you. Keep to the original plan." With these words, Kakashi ran towards Zabuza, while Sasuke and Haku moved to meet in between the jonins and Sakura and Tazuna, who had backed several yards down the bridge.

* * *

Inari had just finished washing his hands in the sink hen he heard his kasan calling him from the kitchen. "Inari, come help me with the dishes!"

"I'm on my way, kasan!" he shouted back, fiddling with the kunai Naruto-niisan had left him as he went to join her.

"I can't train you today, Inari," the blonde had said to him a few hours ago, "I've got to help protect Tazuna-san at the bridge today. But be sure to train yourself more in what I've taught you so far, and take this kunai, in case you want to practice your aim. Just don't overdo it and hurt yourself, okay squirt?" With one of his big grins, Naruto-niisan had ruffled the younger boy's hair and walked off.

Just before he entered the kitchen, however, Inari heard a strange noise. It sounded like metal slicing through wood and was coming from the front room of the house, which the boy couldn't see from his current position. He did see his kasan turn to face the noise, though, and he saw the scared, surprised look on her face.

"Now now," said a rough, low voice, "No need ta look like that. Me an' Waraji here ain't gonna hurt ya... much."

Inari dashed out into the kitchen in front of his mother and turned to face the intruders, kunai held out in front of him, as Naruto-niisan had taught him. "Don't you dare hurt my kasan." he growled.

Standing in the room were two men, both holding unsheathed katanas in their right hands, and by the looks of them, they knew how to use the weapons.

"Aww, lookie lookie. The little wannabe ninja is trying to protect his mommy," said the other, Warajii. "Fine, we'll kill the brat first. Okay, Zori?"

"If either of you try to hurt my boy, I'll kill myself!" Tsunami shouted out, taking the large knife she had been using to chop vegetables and holding it over her own heart. "Inari, get out of here, now!"

"NO!" the boy shouted, throwing his kunai the way he had been told. All in one motion, he pulled back his right arm and, putting chakra into both his muscles and the weapon itself, flung the arm forward, moving his body with it for more force, concentrating on his target, the right shoulder of the man Zori. If he hit him there badly enough, he wouldn't be able to use that arm or his sword.

The attack was unexpected, and Zori had no time to dodge. He screamed in pain and dropped his katana as the sharp weapon hit its target perfectly.

"I can protect you, Kasan!" Inari said forcefully, turning around to yank the large knife from his mother's hands.

"You'll pay for that, kid!" It was Waraji's voice, and it was coming from right behind him. He tried to turn around, but his kasan shoved him out of the way. As he fell to the floor, Inari saw the sword flash through right where his neck had been an instant before, and along where his mothers stomach now was.

* * *

Sasuke and Haku met in the middle of the bridge in a flurry of kicks and punches. Almost, immediately, however, the older boy backed off and took out four senbon in each hand, holding them between his fingers, then charged back in; he didn't like the slight burns every time he had to block the other boy's attacks. The Uchiha gripped a kunai in each hand to counter his opponent's weapons. Both boys returned to the close-range fighting, neither immediately able to gain the advantage.

Then, at the exact same time, Haku cut Sasuke's right arm with the senbon in his right hand, and the Uchiha kicked the brown-eyed boy hard in the chest with his left foot, sending him flying backwards a few feet.

"Hmm, you're better than I expected," Haku stated. He then threw all eight senbon at his opponent, forcing him to leap back quickly, blocking the needles with his kunai. The older boy used the time to rapidly form handseals.

"**Hyouton, Sensatsu Suisho no Jutsu"**

The puddles of water from the earlier mizu bushins, which Sasuke was now standing in the middle of, formed into droplets of water that floated in the air before freezing into hundreds of ice needles, more than the boy could count. And every one of those needles was pointed right at him.

Concentrating as much chakra as he could to his legs and feet, the Uchiha waited for the needles to start rushing towards him before leaping as high as he could, straight vertically.

The brown-eyed boy used the break in the fighting provided by his opponent to form a much longer, more complicated string of handseals. He ended the sequence the moment the younger boy touched the ground.

"**Hyouton, Makyo Hyo Sho no Jutsu"**

Before Sasuke could do anything, the water vapor from the heavy mist in the air condensed into a dome of mirrors surrounding him, made entirely of ice. Haku walked forward. "You are fast, but I will show you my true speed." With those words, he stepped into one of the mirrors and... melted into it. Reflections of the brown-eyed boy appeared in all the other mirrors making up the dome, and the Uchiha knew he was in trouble.

* * *

Naruto was leaping through the tress as quickly as he could. He was hurrying straight to Tasuna's house, snapping branches as he directed all the chakra he could to speed, not bothering to leave any for cushioning the branches from the force of his chakra-enhanced leaps.

Inari and Tsunami were in danger; he had no time to care about anything else. All that mattered was getting straight to the house as fast as he possibly could. As the blonde neared his destination, his shinkagan picked up an enormous surge of rage from Inari, and he urged his body to move faster.

The hole in the wall of the house was a dead giveaway that something was wrong, but what he saw through said hole was far worse than the genin had expected. There were four people inside: Tsunami, Inari, and two samurai. Tsunami was crumpled up on the floor with a large gash across her stomach. One of the samurai had a kunai deep in his right shoulder and was reaching down to pick up his katana off the floor with his left hand. And the other intruder and Inari...

The second samurai was forced up against a wall, with a few deep cuts and stabs on his body. His sword was laying on the ground several feet away, the tip of the blade coated in blood. And Inari was standing in front of him, radiating rage. His right hand was tightly gripped around a bloody vegetable knife.

Naruto wouldn't even have needed his shinkagan to tell what the boy was about to do, and he was not about to let Inari become a killer, not like this. As the blonde ran into the house, the younger boy leapt at his victim's neck, knife first, and the other samurai prepared to strike out with his blade.

The ninja backhanded the man in the chest with his right hand as he blurred past, sending him crashing into the far wall. He reached out with his other hand and yanked the rage-filled boy out of the air, simultaneously using his left leg to kick the badly-bleeding samurai hard in the gut. As the man flew through three walls and out of the house into the water, Naruto reached into his pack for bandages to perform emergency first aid on Tsunami.

"Inari," the blonde said sternly while wrapping the woman's stomach tightly in bandages, "I understand that those two were trying to hurt you and your mom, but you shouldn't be killing anyone, not as young as you are. If I hadn't stopped you, you would have regretted it."

The black-eyed boy just stood there in confusion and shock. "N-naruto-niisan, w-will kasan be all right?"

Naruto made a kage bushin before responding. "I'm going to go get Sakura. Stay here with my kage bushin. Good throw with that kunai, by the way." The blue-eyed boy left as swiftly as he had come, knowing that Tsunami would need better medical attention than he could give.

* * *

Kakashi was extremely worried. It had been five minutes since his opponent had used his favorite kirigakure no jutsu, making the heavy mist even thicker, to the point where even his sharingan couldn't penetrate it. He had lost track of the man and had no idea where he would strike from next.

Or where he would strike next. The silver-haired jonin rushed in the direction of Sakura and Tazuna, praying he would make it in time. When he heard the sound of a large sword swinging ahead of him, he knew he was too late but kept going anyway in hopes of killing the bastard.

Then he heard the sound of metal striking metal and saw that Naruto had arrived just in time to block Zabuza's blow with his own sword. The two blades were pressing against each other, until the missing-nin was forced to leap away to avoid both a kunai in the back and the blonde's second sword.

"How were they?" Kakashi asked succinctly.

The genin sheathed his swords and created a kage bushin while answering. "Tsunami's badly injured. The samurai have been dealt with. Sakura, Tsunami needs you right away. Climb onto my kage bushin's back and hold on tight. I'll take over guarding Tazuna."

After a brief nod from her sensei, the pink-haired kunoichi did as told and the clone sprinted off back to the house at a speed that almost made the girl sick.

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said, "It looks like Sasuke and I will have to switch roles. If we let Haku beat him, that would leave Tazuna-san unguarded when I take over."

"Go for it, Naruto," the jonin said before leaping off into the mist after his opponent.

* * *

Haku was enjoying fighting the Uchiha. It had only taken the younger boy a couple minutes of getting hit by senbon to activate his sharingan, and he had now turned into good target practice. The brown-eyed boy was just thinking of finishing this fight and moving on to the girl when he felt a powerful surge of wing chakra speeding towards the upper part of his mirror dome. The speed he got from the jutsu allowed him to dodge easily, but the chakra sliced straight through the mirrors, cutting them neatly apart. He saw Naruto-kun dash in swords drawn and go to his teammate. "Sasuke! We have to switch. You guard Tazuna and I'll take this guy."

The dark-haired boy looked at him. "Get out of here and let me handle this, Naruto."

The blue-eyed boy glared at Sasuke. "You're tired. I'm fresh. Go."

Haku didn't bother trying to stop his previous opponent, knowing full well that Naruto would take advantage of his action. There was no point keeping the makyo hyo sho up either, after the ease with which the blonde had, quite literally, cut through the jutsu.

"I was hoping we wouldn't have to fight," he said as he let the mirrors melt around them.

"Me too, Haku, but Sakura had to go heal Tsunami, and Sasuke wouldn't have lasted much longer, which would have left no one to protect Tazuna while I held you off. Let's not kill each other if we can avoid it, though."

"Your teammate managed to awaken his sharingan while we were fighting. It made the battle a bit more interesting."

"Really? Good for him. So, shall we begin?"

"Yes, let us."

The older boy started by speeding through a series of handseals.

"**Hyouton, Hyo Kasui no Jutsu"** (ice element, ice spikes technique)

Naruto leapt back as a sharp spike of ice erupted from beneath his feet. He was then forced to dodge in midair as more spikes branched off of the larger spike, all going in his direction. One of them managed to graze the blonde's left side before the jutsu ended.

Haku rushed at him trying to get close so he couldn't use his swords, but the blue-eyed boy kicked straight towards his chest with his left foot, forcing him to twist to the side to dodge. His opponent used the moment to swipe at him with the flat of his left sword, forcing the older boy to retreat into the one mirror e had kept up. He had seen the chkra field around those blades in the previous fight with Zabuza-sama and knew to stay away.

The brown-eyed boy already knew he was in trouble. His previous fight had already put a drain on his chakra, his opponent matched him in speed, surpassed him in strength, and those swords severely limited what he could do. It looked like he would have to use _that_ jutsu if he wanted to have a chance of victory. As Naruto made twenty kage bushins and sent them at him, he rushed through the handseals, hoping the jutsu would work the way it was supposed to. "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun," he said, "But I must do everything in my power to fulfill Zabuza-sama's dream."

"**Hyouton, Omoi Gyou no Jutsu" **(ice element, mind freeze technique)

The clones dispersed in puffs of smoke, and Naruto stopped, perfectly still. It had worked. The tiny ice crystals he had formed in the blonde's brain were stopping all conscious thought. Haku breathed a sigh of relief. Now, he could go help Zabuza-sama against the leaf jonin.

Before he even took a step, though, red chakra began to pour out of Naruto at an alarming rate. It took the brown-eyed boy less than a second to realize his mistake. In immobilizing his friend's mind, he had given the demon within a chance to usurp control.

His whisker marks deepened, his fingernails became claws, his teeth sharpened into fangs, and his clear blue eyes became red and slitted. The sheer intensity of the Kyuubi's chakra was overwhelming, and Haku instinctively prepared for an attack, despite his overwhelming fear. He prayed to whatever god or gods there might have been that Naruto would be able to regain control before something terrible happened.

The Kyuubi blurred forward at an impossible speed, and the next thing Haku knew, she had punched him in the chest, and he heard and felt several ribs snap. As he went flying backwards through the air, the boy was extremely glad Zabuza-sama had taught him how to use chakra both to harden his body and to spread out the impact of a blow. That punch would have killed him instantly otherwise, and he knew he couldn't take another one.

After being sent halfway across the bridge, he slowly got to his feet and looked into those red eyes. He would face his death with dignity, not as a coward. The Kyuubi blurred forward again, but this time, the fist stopped less than an inch from his face. Haku watched in relief as Naruto's eyes returned to blue and his other features changed back to normal.

* * *

Kakashi relaxed noticeably when he felt the evil chakra fade. He would question Naruto about it later. Right now, he had a threat to dispose of. "Zabuza, I cannot allow you to live. Your ambition would harm too many. You have proven a worthy opponent, though, so I will show you something few have seen: my own original jutsu.

"**Raikiri"**

The jonin dashed towards his immobilized oponent, only for something completely unexpected to happen. A mirror made of ice formed, and Haku leapt out of it, straight into the path of his jutsu. He couldn't do anything, he was moving too fast. He tried to direct his aim down and to the right, but the silver-haired man knew it wouldn't be enough.

That is, until his blonde-haired student, moving faster than Kakashi had ever seen him move, threw himself bodily into the older boy.

The raikiri ended up hitting all three of them. Haku took the brunt of the attack in his side, cutting out a good chunk of his body. Naruto was grazed along the stomach and was unbelievably lucky that nothing but skin was taken off. Zabuza got Kakashi's hand in his body, reaching just short of puncturing his stomach.

Everyone knew the fight was over. The missing-nin wouldn't be able to stand up to the silver-haired jonin with such a serious injury, and his ally was mortally wounded.

* * *

Naruto ignored the pain in his abdomen as he rushed to his dying friend. The boy opened up a mental link to the Kyuubi.

"_Heal him."_

"**What!?" **she exclaimed.

"_Send your chakra through me into him and heal him. Now."_

The blonde was determined that his idea would work. He was not about to lose another precious person. The massive amount of demonic chakra that flowed through his body and into Haku tore his insides to pieces and healed them up again just as quickly. As the red chakra encased the brown-eyed boy, he watched in relief as organs, followed by muscles and skin, rapidly regenerated, filling the gaping hole in the side of his body.

Fortunately, Haku had passed out from the pain instantly, and Naruto was starting to settle down. As soon as he got a chance, he would need to head into his mind and make that fox bitch feel pain for trying to kill his friend. The genin was just about to breathe a sigh of relaxation when two things happened. First, a large group of thugs, led by a short businessman who could only have been Gato emerged from the mist. Second, his shinkagan picked up someone... familiar... rapidly drawing closer.

"Hmm, what do we have here?" Gato started, "Some tired and wounded ninjas just sitting around. Zabuza, I'm disappointed in you. With all the money I had offered, I would have thought you'd be able to kill one old man. I guess you're not really a demon after all."

The former mist-nin looked at the short man with disgust. "Gato. So, you were planning to betray me from the start. Kakashi, I have no more quarrel with you, it seems."

"It would seem that way indeed," stated the leaf jonin.

"Now, if you will excuse me," Zabuza growled, "I have to go crush a worm."

Seeing the killing-intent-filled glare on the ninja's face, Gato ran back into his crowd of mercenaries, shouting, "Kill them!"

As the missing-nin charged into the thugs, Naruto recognized that presence his shinkagan had picked up and gasped. No way, it couldn't be him. Not right now.

* * *

Kakashi heard the sharp intake of breath from his blue-eyed student. "Naruto? What's wrong?"

The boy said nothing for several seconds, but the jonin felt a massive spike in both his chakra levels and his killing intent. When he did speak, his voice was cold and hard, and he didn't even turn to look at the man. "Kakashi. Take Haku to Sakura for healing, and get Sasuke and Tazuna out of here. I'll explain everything afterwards."

The lack of any suffixes told him better than anything else just how serious the boy was. But he didn't feel right just leaving like that. Though it was mostly overriden by a variety of other emotions, he could sense the fear in the blonde. "Naru-"

"Go! Now!" he commanded.

_'Minato-sensei, he truly is your son'_ Kakashi thought as he picked up the unconscious boy and leapt off to relay the future Hokage's orders to his other student.

* * *

As Zabuza ran toward Gato, killing any of the thugs stupid enough to get in his way, and the dark presence drew ever closer, Naruto sent chakra to the seal on his forehead he had created for just this sort of situation. _'But what would he be doing here? There's no way he can be after me, not yet. He can't be ready to break the seal yet; no matter how good he is, it must have taken him several years at least to figure out how to do it, and, assuming everything the fox told me about bijuu is accurate, he can't have all eight of the others under his power already. Twelve years just isn't enough time for that._

_'If he's not here for me though, why would he be coming here? Someone like him wouldn't care about a little country like Wave. All he cares about is power, in any form... Gato!'_

"Zabuza, Wait!" The blonde shouted out a warning, hoping for Haku's sake that the man would listen. He didn't.

As the former mist nin closed in on his target, intent on cleaving the businessman in two, there was a sudden blur, and _he_ had arrived.

Zabuza's dead body flew away in two halves, both trailing blood as they flew into the sea. The katana that had killed him had moved so fast that the blade was still clean, and Gato seemed even more frightened than he had been a moment before, held underneath the new arrival's other arm.

The black cloak with red clouds he was wearing covered everything except his hands and his head. His hair was still the same spiky dark blonde and his eyes the same empty blue.

Naruto stared at him, and he stared straight back at the jinchuriki. The pressure and killing intent coursing between the two was so great that several of the remaining thugs died on the spot of heart failure. The younger blonde spoke first.

"Try anything, and this suicide seal on my forehead activates, killing me and the fox along with me. Knock me unconscious, and it automatically activates anyway. Long time no see, fucking bastard"

"Now now, language, son. Then again, your mother was always very foul-mouthed as well." The Yondaime let out a laugh that sounded more like some kind of deranged cackle.

Despite the situation, Naruto couldn't help but ask a question that had bothered him ever since he had learned the truth about the man who was once his hero. "How the hell did someone like you manage to fool the entirety of Konoha for so long?"

Amazingly enough, the man actually answered as he walked over to the nearest thug and casually sliced his head off. "It's simple, really. I'm special." He sheathed his sword as he strolled over to another mercenary and ripped the man's heart from his chest before elaborating. "When I was around eight, I learned that I had a gift. When I kill someone, if I eat an important part of them while they're dying, I can, for lack of a better word, absorb their personality."

As proof, he waltzed over to another terrified thug, plucked out his eyes, stuck them in his mouth, and tore the man's head off. A couple seconds later, a change came over him, and he set gato down on the ground. "Hey boss, would ya mind givin' me a bit more money?" Having demonstrated his ability, he reverted to his real self and gave that mad laugh again.

"It took me until my tenth birthday to find someone with the right personality to assure me Hokage. I don't remember his name, but his brain was delicious. Then I just walked up to the village, pretending to be a lost orphan, and turned on that kind strong, commanding personality."

While speaking, he continued to wander aimlessly among the mercenaries, tearing them to pieces at random as though it was something he did every day.

Naruto wasn't quite sure what to think. On the one hand, it was very good to know that the man everyone had respected so much had actually existed, but on the other, there was the fact that this sick bastard had killed him. Wanting to get the matter out of his mind for the moment, the Kyuubi container changed the topic.

"I didn't think you would be interested in something as earthly as money. How would that help once you're a god?"

"Oh, the money's just to tide me over for the next few years until I'm ready to yank that demon out of you. Plus, having lots of money, like Gato here does, will let me live stylishly while I prepare. Well, I'll be seeing you around, Naruto-kun."

With that, he killed off the last thirty thugs in under a second, sending chunks of human flying all over. He calmly paced back to the terrified little man he had left in the middle of the bridge and picked him up again. "Oh, and say hi to Kakashi-kun for me, would you?"

He departed as quickly as he had arrived, leaving Naruto standing alone on the unfinished bridge surrounded by a mess of dead people, body parts, and blood. The blonde vomited and made a dozen kage bushins to clean up before leaving. He would probably have to get used to sights like this.


	20. Chapter 20

**chapter 20**

**after**

On returning to Tazuna's house, Naruto immediately went to check on Tsunami and Haku. Sakura had managed to heal the gash on the woman's stomach, which had fortunately been shallow enough to avoid any vital organs.

The brown-eyed ninja's situation, however, was far worse. While the infusion of Kyuubi's chakra had healed the otherwise fatal wounds he had sustained, his body was now reacting violently to the remnants of the chakra and practically being eaten away from the inside out. It was all the beginner medic could do to simply keep her patient's heart beating.

"Is there anything I can do?" the blonde genin asked worriedly.

His teammate glanced in his direction. "Well, if you have another of those chakra suppression seals you used on the Demon Brothers when we were on our way here, that might help."

"I do, but you said that chakra wasn't normal, right? In that case, I'll need to make a few modifications to the seal, or it won't affect the foreign chakra" He immediately made five kage bushins and sent them to come up with a seal for suppressing demonic chakra.

The kunoichi didn't take her eyes off Haku. "All right, but hurry up; I'm not sure how much more time he has."

The kage bushins all sent chakra to their brains, letting them think through possible ideas and theories several times faster than normal. Fortunately, thanks to Naruto's slight knowledge of Kyuubi's chakra and his genius at seals, five of him working together managed to invent a rough but effective seal in twenty seconds. An additional five seconds were spent drawing the seal on one of the blank seal paper slips he always carried with him and applying it to the back of Haku's neck.

Sakura thanked the blonde before starting work stabilizing her patient. "He'll be unconscious for two days minimum, but he'll live. He should take about a month to fully recover." She paused here and changed her tone. "But why are we treating him anyway? Isn't he the enemy? Wasn't he the one who hurt Sasuke-kun?"

Naruto gave her a stern glare. "We're helping him because, despite who he was working with, he's a good person. He's not a enemy anymore because Zabuza is dead. And yes, he is the one Sasuke-teme was fighting."

Satisfied, the pink-haired genin headed over to her crush, wanting to help him as well.

"Go away, Sakura," was all he said when she asked to see his wounds. The Uchiha wasn't quite sure how to feel. On the one hand, he had activated his sharingan, but on the other, he was disturbed over his loss to Haku. While he hadn't technically been defeated, he knew very well that, had his teammte not shown up, he would have lost. It was an infuriating feeling, knowing that he wasn't even strong enough to fight someone a couple years his senior.

* * *

Naruto walked over to the room where he knew his jonin sensei was, dreading what he was about to tell the man, but he knew he had to tell him. "Kakashi-sensei?"

The grey-haired jonin was sitting in a chair, looking lazily at his student. "Ah, Naruto. What happened?"

The blonde decided to be up-front about it. "Zabuza is dead, Gato's men are all dead, and Gato himself was kidnapped by a psycho who wants his money. I left a bunch of kage bushins to clean up the... remains... and start giving burials. I figured we should save Zabuza's funeral for after Haku can attend."

"By the way you poured out killing intent when you mentioned the 'psycho,' I'm guessing there's more to this. Care to fill me in?" While his grey eye still feigned lack of interest, the boy's shinkagan told him the man was curious.

"Okay." Naruto let out a sigh, locked the door, and performed a soundproofing jutsu before continuing. "You have to promise not to interrupt. And you should know that this is a double S-class secret that only I am authorized to tell. Also, you're _really_ not going to like or want to believe what I'm going to say. If you need proof of anything I say, I can give it to you, but I hope I won't have to."

Kakashi mentally prepared himself to learn whatever it was that could cause so much hatred from his student and was apparently an even greater secret than the Kyuubi itself. "All right, Naruto. I'm ready."

The blonde looked at his sensei, wondering what would be the least painful way to tell him the truth. "No, you're not ready. No one can ever be ready to know something like this, but telling you is the only viable option. To start off, did you know that my father was the Yonaime?"

* * *

Kakashi had thought that he had experienced every kind of pain life had to offer. Obviously, he had thought wrong. It help, in a way, knowing that the person he had always thought of as his sensei did exist after a fashion, but knowing that the man's brain had been eaten made him sick.

At his request, Naruto had left the jonin alone with his thoughts. He remembered Minato-sensei, his kindness, his wisdom, his strength, all the things he had taught them. To think that it had all been a lie as part of an insane plan to reach a position of power in Konoha and, from there, use the Kyuubi to make himself some kind of god.

The Kyuubi, which he had caused to attack in the first place. And Kushina, who had always been reported as missing. The redhead who was so similar to her son was buried in her husband's casket. For the first time since Obito's death, Hatake Kakashi cried.

* * *

Nothing much happened over the next two days. Kakashi was withdrawn into himself, Sasuke was recovering from his injuries, Sakura was alternating between caring for him and training, Tazuna resumed work on the bridge, Tsunami tried to avoid anything strenuous as she healed, and Naruto, while waiting for Haku to awaken, trained himself and Inari.

The very day of the battle, he took the dark-eyed boy aside and gave him a serious talk about exactly whet it meant to be a ninja, the same talk Iruka had given the blonde over nine years ago. When he saw that the younger boy's determination didn't waver, he was satisfied that, should Inari want, he would undoubtably make an excellent ninja one day.

* * *

The next eventful thing to occur was Haku waking up, fortunately while Naruto was alone in the room with him.

"N-Naruto-kun?" he asked drowsily.

The blonde looked over in happiness. "Haku! You're awake!"

"What happened? The last thing I remember is being on the bridge and Zabuza-sama... Zabuza-sama! Where is he?! Is he all right?!" Looking at the expression on his friend's face provided all the answer he needed.

"Haku, I'm sorry. He would have survived, you did manage to save him, but Gato showed up with a bunch of mercenaries, and... It's complicated. I can go into more detail when you feel ready. We waited for you to wake up before having his funeral, and I have his body and zanbato preserved in a sealing scroll for whenever you want."

Seeing the expression on his friend's face, he knew what the older boy was thinking and stopped him before he could speak. "He wouldn't want you to give up. He cared about you, Haku, he really did, and not just as a tool, and I'm sure he'd want you to go on living."

"What could you know about how he felt?! You met him twice in your life!" Tears began to fall freely from the brown-eyed boy's eyes as he shouted.

Naruto gave him a hard glare with a bit of killing intent mixed in to ensure he had Haku's attention. "The min ability of my bloodline is that it makes a connection to the soul of every person I meet. Zabuza's soul was dark and twisted, but there was still a tiny bit of light in him where you were concerned. I think he saw you as the son he never had. No real fatherr would wish death on their child for any reason."

Something of the blonde's words had gotten through to him, as he calmed down somewhat. "Th-thank you, Naruto-kun. As soon as I am able to walk, I-I would like to hold the funeral."

* * *

A week later, Zabuza was buried in a scenic clearing in the forest near the water's edge, overlooking the nearly-finished bridge. Naruto helped Haku place the missing-nin's huge sword at the head of the mound of dirt, taking nearly all of the blade's weight himself to keep his friend from damaging his still-healing body. Team 7 and the brown-eyed boy were the only ones present.

The blonde stared sadly at the grave of a man he had, in the end, respected and who had died such a sudden death. It wasn't until that moment that he realized just how very short life could be for a ninja.

"Kakashi-sensei, how do you deal with it?" he asked, not turning around, "Knowing that your life could end so quickly, when there's still so much you wanted to do?"

The jonin looked at his student. Naruto could be so mature sometimes that he forgot the boy was still only twelve. "I once asked the Hokage that same question. He told me that the best way was to come up with your own 'way of the ninja,' your guiding principle for your life. If you live by that principe, you have something to be proud of when your time comes."

The blue-eyed boy thought for a moment. "I see. In honor of Zabuza, I will come up with my own way of the ninja. I want to live my life with no regrets, so from this point forth, I swear that I will never take back my word. That is my way of the ninja."

* * *

It was now two weeks and three days since the battle on the bridge. The ninja stood on the now-completed structure, saying goodbye to Tazuna, Tsunami, and all the people of Wave, who were once again filled with hope after the disappearance of Gato and the completion of the bridge. Inari and his mother were hugging each other tightly; the boy had made up his mind to go with the others back to Konoha, though he promised to return as often as he could.

As the group of six were walking away, Tazuna called out to them. "Hold it! We still haven't got a name for this bridge yet!"

At this, people started shouting out suggestions. They ranged from the simple "Wave Bridge," to "The World's Greatest Bridge," to "The Great Ramen Bridge," the last courtesy of Naruto. It was Tsunami who eventually suggested "The Great Uzumaki Naruto Bridge" and, despite the blonde's protests that he didn't deserve such an honor, he was out-voted 4,213 to 2. Sasuke had been the other 1. And so Team 7 plus Haku and Inari became the first people to cross the Great Uzumaki Naruto Bridge, with said genin loudly complaining that he liked his idea better. Sakura bopped him on the head for wanting to name it after food, and they headed back home.


	21. Chapter 21

**chapter 21**

**home**

The Sandaime was enjoying the peace and quiet that had prevailed in Konoha for the last month. There had been a noticeable drop in the amount of paperwork he had been receiving as of late, no major crises had occurred recently, and, best of all, there were no loud, blonde ninja destroying his eardrums daily.

"OJISAN! WE'RE BACK!" Scratch that last thought.

Naruto walked into the Hokage's office at the head of a group consisting of his team and two individuals the old man had never seen before. He had a feeling this would be an interesting mission report.

It turned out to be an interesting report indeed. Throughout it, various people would leave the room at various times to make sure various secrets remained secret. Nearly two hours later, the only people in the office were the Sandaime, Naruto, Haku, and Inari. "Now, the question remains of what to do with you two. The biggest problem would be finding a place for you to live, but-"

"I can make room in my apartment, Ojiisan. It's not the nicest place, but it should do."

"Yes, Naruto, I was just about to suggest that. Also, as for you, Haku, since you are not a registered ninja anywhere, you will have to start as a genin. Unfortunately, there are no openings on any of the current genin teams. When one shows up, you will be at the top of the list to fill it. And Inari, I can assume you would like to start at the Academy next year. Before that time comes, you should continue our training to catch up on the years you've missed."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama"

"Thanks, Ojisan"

Apparently the young boy was already taking after his idol. At least the older nin knew the meaning of respect.

"That is all. You are dismissed."

Naruto leapt up from his seat. "Yes! Finally! Now to go get some RAMEN!" And with that, the blonde dashed from the room, the other two following, Inari close on his heels and Haku moving at a more sedated pace.

* * *

Ichiraku ramen was crowded that afternoon. In addition to Naruto, Inari, and Haku, all of teams 8 and 10 were present, as was Sakura. Sasuke had only been to these "rookie meals" twice, so his absence was no surprise. Naruto's friends were happy to meet the two newcomers, and most of them, especially Kiba, were shocked to learn that the brown-eyed boy was, in fact, a boy.

The blonde genin regaled his comrades with stories of his exploits on the recent _A rank_ mission, with Sakura and Haku correcting him whenever he exaggerated too much. In between devouring bowls of ramen, he would look over at his friends and ask how they had been. Team 10 had so far done nothing but training and boring D-ranks, but team 8 had gotten a C-rank last week to deliver a letter to someone in the capital of Fire country.

Hinata and Kiba took turns describing the huge, bustling city and their journey there. Naruto absently noted that each genin concentrated on using sensory impressions from their respective heightened senses, with Kiba focusing more on the smells and sounds of the place, while Hinata stuck to visual descriptions.

As the Hyuuga heiress talked, the blue-eyed boy found himself unable to take his eyes off her. That same confused feeling that always came into his mind where Hinata was concerned was again clouding his thoughts. But now it was slightly less confusing and some part of it seemed familiar from somewhere else. But from where? From where else had he felt, or sensed in someone else, a similar feeling?

Naruto's eyes shifted down the counter briefly, to where Haku was telling Sakura about various herbs she had not yet learned of from her med nin instructor. That was it! It was like the emotion he got from Sakura when she thought about Sasuke, and what he had felt from Haku whenever Zabuza was concerned.

He turned his clear blue eyes back to Hinata-chan's white ones. But was it true? Did he really... love her? At that thought, his mind went numb briefly, and he heard himself blurt out something along the lines of "Hinatachanyouwannagoonadatewithme?"

Utter silence followed the blonde's exclamation as everyone, Naruto included, tried to figure out what he had just said. Once they all did, the silence seemed to become even deeper as the blue-haired girl turned a bright shade of red and promptly fainted. Naruto barely had the sense to catch her before she hit the floor.

* * *

Hinata felt herself waking up from the loveliest dream she had ever had. Naruto-kun had asked her out on a date. She had dreamt of it happening before, of course, but this one seemed so much more real somehow. They had all been sitting around at Ichiraku's when he just shouted it out with no warning. It was just such a Naruto-kun type to thing to do.

That was when she realized she wasn't in her bed. No, in fact she wasn't even in her room or the Hyuuga manor at all for that matter. Then she noticed someone kneeling over her in concern. It was Naruto-kun.

"Hinata-chan, are you all right?" Even the concern in his voice was overflowing with kindness. She felt a pair of strong, warm hands gently lift her and carefully place her on her feet.

"You okay, Hinata-chan? You just kinda fainted when I blurted out about asking you on a date." The Hyuuga girl was in shock. It... it hadn't been a dream. Her Naruto-kun had really...

She was in such a state of bliss that she didn't even know what she was doing as she threw herself at the orange-clad boy, wrapping her arms tightly around his warm, strong body and enveloping his lips with her own. For a fraction of a second, he was too surprised to do anything, Then she felt him reciprocate the gesture, and she felt his muscular arms hold her tightly as he deepened the kiss.

She had no idea how long they stayed that way for; it felt like an eternity, but it could have only been a couple seconds for all she knew. On separating, they both just looked at each other for a moment before simultaneously blushing. He looked so cute with his whisker-marked cheeks slightly red like that.

"Umm... So... I guess that's a yes, then?" It took the girl a moment to remember just what he had asked.

"O-of course. Where and when were you thinking?" She was glad to see him respond with a small smile. That little smile always conveyed a much deeper emotion than the wide grin he normally used.

"Well, Haku and Inari are going to be living with me, so I need some time to get them settled into my apartment, then I'll need a bit more time to get ready... Say around six outside the Hyuuga compound?" It was already four in the afternoon.

At this point, they were both forcefully reminded of their friends when Ino interrupted. "Naruto, you idiot! A girl needs more than two hours to prepare for her first date, even if her friends are helping her. She'll meet you at seven thirty in front of the Hokage tower. Forehead girl, we need to take Hinata here on an emergency shopping trip."

Sakura stood up and helped her friend/rival to drag the Hyuuga off. "You're right, Ino-pig. And that big fluffy jacket will be the first thing to go. Then we'll need to head over to a beauty parlor and..."

The three girls were already out of the ramen stall and heading down the street, lost in the crowd.

* * *

For his part, Naruto wasn't quite sure what had just happened. He just knew that this was the hapiest day of his life so far. All the boys plus Ayame-neechan were just staring at him. The ramen stand girl was the first to speak. "Naruto, make sure you treat her right, or, even if I do think of you as a little brother, I'll never forgive you."

Then the blonde noticed Shikamaru collecting money from the other remaining rookie genin. "What's that about?"

The lazy boy sighed. "It's troublesome, but at the end of your first year at the Academy, we all made bets about how much longer it would take you two to get together."

"You... bet... on when we would... get together?" Naruto was shocked. Had it been so obvious to everyone but him?

"Yup!" This was Kiba, with Akamaru barking agreement. "I said it would be before graduation, Shino said never, Chouji guessed it would be after at least a year of being ninja, and Shika, the bastard, told us it would happen after the first few months."

"I... see." The blue-eyed genin was beginning to get nervous. He had no idea of the proper way to treat a girl on a date. That was when he had an idea. Before saying goodbye and showing Inari and Haku to his apartment, he made a pair of kage bushins, one to talk to Ayame-neesan about how to treat Hinata-chan, and the other to find Iruka-oniisan and ask him for advice on being a gentleman. Naruto himself took Haku and Inari to his apartment.

* * *

Naruto opened his apartment door. "Welcome to your new home, you two."

The other two boys stepped into the front room. The small room was crowded with furniture and appliances and appeared to be a mix of living room, kitchen, and dining room. From the entrance, he could see two open doors, one leading to a small washroom, and the other appeared to be the entrance to the bedroom. That brought a question to the brown-eyed boy's mind.

"Naruto-kun, what are we going to do about sleeping arrangements?" There would obviously only be one bed.

The blonde thought for a moment. "Well, Inari, as the youngest and least comfortable to uncomfortable sleeping, should get the bed. You can take the couch, Haku, and I'll put something soft on the floor."

The youngest of the three began to object. "But Naruto-niisan-"

"No buts, Inari. I've slept much less comfortably for a lot of my life, and since you two are guests until we can find better living quarters, I want to make sure you're treated as well as you can be." He gave the boy a stern look, silencing any future arguments.

Haku had wandered into the genin's bedroom and was perusing his shelves of ninja scrolls, most of which, he noted, were on seals. "You seem to be extremely interested in the art of sealing, Naruto-kun."

The blue-eyed boy turned his attention to his other friend. "Yeah, I have something of a gift when it comes to seals. Most of those scrolls I don't even need anymore. If you want to borrow anything, go ahead."

"Thank you for the offer, but I'm fine." He returned to skimming the shelves. "It looks like most of what you have here is theory. A few wind jutsu scrolls, and I see a kenjutsu manual there, but you haven't got much in the way of genjutsu, and I don't see a single taijutsu scroll."

"Well, wind is my dominant element, and I want to wait until I've developed my other affinities to a good level before trying to learn any other elemental jutsu. Where genjutsu is concerned, my chakra is a bit... strange, and it makes me need to put a whole lot more control than normally required to do even the simplest illusion. I still have to concentrate to make a regular bushin." He grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck. "And with taijutsu, my brain and body seem to be incapable of adapting to any style I've tried."

By this time, he had moved into the bedroom along with his friend. "And hey, while we're on the ninja subject, I just realized that with missions and whatnot, I won't have as much time as I'd like for teaching Inari. Would you mind helping me out?"

"I would be delighted, Naruto-kun. Inari-kun seems to be a very talented young boy."

"Yay! Now I've got two awesome senseis!"

Naruto turned to look at the black-eyed boy. "You most certainly do, Inari. Haku is a great ninja and I'm gonna be Hokage someday, so you're getting personal training from two of the best!" He gave a huge grin, before being interrupted by his stomach growling in hunger. With everything that had happened at Ichiraku's, he only been able to have fourteen bowls of ramen. "Since I'll be gone tonight, I should probably start dinner early."

"You can cook, Naruto-niisan?" Inari asked in wonderment.

The blonde grinned his huge grin. "Of course I can cook! And if my friends are to be believed, I'm a damn good chef, too." With that, he made a pair of kage bushins who quickly got to work.

Haku smiled. "Well, I was going to ask if you needed help..."

Naruto somehow managed to make his grin even wider. "Thanks, but no need to bother yourself. There's more than enough of me to go around. Now, what do you guys think I should wear to my date?"

* * *

For his date with Hinata-chan, Naruto had decided to forego his normal bright orange and wear something more fancy and suitable. He had chosen to stick with simple clothes and was walking toward the Hokage tower wearing a plain black robe that faded away into a pair of loose, equally black pants. Also, he had moved his forehead protector to around his neck, as Haku and Inari had insisted that he looked better when he let his hair flow freely.

Upon spotting the Hyuuga heiress, the blonde stared in amazement. She was beautiful. Hinata-chan was wearing a whitish-silver sleeveless dress that fit her snugly and draped about three-fourths of the way down her legs. She also had on matching high-heeled shoes that put her exactly on eye level with him. To top it all off, her pearl-white eyes were radiating happiness, and she wore a perfume that smelled like a mix of all the most beautiful flowers.

"H-hello, Hinata-chan," he stuttered out. Great, now he sounded like an idiot. The blonde could even feel himself blushing.

"Oh, hello, Naruto-kun. You look handsome tonight." Good, she approved of his choice of clothes.

The blue-haired girl looked like she was waiting for him to say something. "Thank you. You look beautiful in that dress."

Her cheeks took on a red tint as she blushed at the compliment. She giggled lightly. "Oh, thank you. Ino and Sakura picked it out for me after lunch. What did you want to do tonight?"

And there came the question. Apparently, boys on dates usually took girls to fancy restaurants, but that wouldn't work, as all the fancy restaurants kicked Naruto out on sight. Iruka-oniisan had suggested a movie, but there wasn't anything good playing at the one theater that took the demon container's business. And Ayame-neesan had threatened his ramen supply if he didn't show her a good time. In the end, he had been left with only one option.

"If you don't mind, I was thinking I'd show you some of my favorite places in the village." Please say yes. Please say yes.

"Oh, that sounds wonderful, Naruto-kun!" On hearing that, he felt himself glow with happiness.

"R-really? Thank you, Hinata-chan! We're going to have to hurry, though, if we want to see them all before it gets too dark. At least sunset is late today." And he led her across the rooftops, in the direction of the main village gate.

* * *

Hinata had never known just how beautiful Konoha was bathed in the soft orange light of the setting sun. She had also had no idea that the boy she loved had such a deep appreciation of natural beauty. From the roof of the guard tower, one could see the village spreading out for miles below them, from the residential districts, to the clan compounds, to the wide expanse of training grounds. And all of it overshadowed by the carved stone faces of the four Hokages.

"Thank you for sharing this with me, Naruto-kun." She felt tempted to kiss him again, like what had happened in the ramen shop, but she was too nervous. He had spent the past half-hour showing her progressively more beautiful and scenic locations throughout the village, and she had been content to just stand or sit alongside him, feeling the happiness radiating from his whole body.

Naruto-kun was the most expressive people she knew, and it was one of the reasons she loved him. Whatever emotions he was feeling, one could sense just by being near him, and those emotions were infectious, especially when he was happy. Whenever he smiled, it seemed like everything was perfect in the world and there was nothing to worry about.

And he had helped her so much over the years. When she first met the blonde, she had been shy and timid, prone to bouts of silence and extreme nervousness. But Naruto-kun had taught her to stand up for herself and helped her by listening as she talked about her problems. He had also helped out greatly with her ninja training, and the Hyuuga heiress was sure that, had it not been for him, she wouldn't be even half the kuniochi she was today.

Speaking of ninja training, she was one of the few people to know just what the blue-eyed genin was capable of. She would sometimes use her byakugan to watch him as he trained, and the things he could do were amazing. His skills were well above those of most chunin, let alone their genin friends. And his chakra stores were so large as to be incredible. The amount of chakra in his body was over eighty times greater than her father's, and it grew at a substantial rate. She felt safer around him than she did in the middle of the Hyuuga compound. And safety had always been important to her, with the kidnapping she had been through on her third birthday.

Naruto spoke up, disrupting her train of thought. "There's one more place I want to show you, Hinata-chan, and this one's my absolute favorite."

And so he led her once more into Konoha.

* * *

The view from the top of the Hokage monument had always inspired a sense of awe in Naruto that nothing else could match. Especially at sunset. He had greatly enjoyed taking her around to all his favorite places, especially since he could tell that she enjoyed it. Staring down as the village spread out in every direction in front of them, he suddenly had an idea, and a mischievous smirk appeared on his face.

"Hey, Hinata-chan, remember that prank I pulled the day before graduation, where I painted the Hokage monument and covered the streets in orange?" He was happy to see her nod.

"Remember how the paint all suddenly vanished?" She nodded again, still obviously having no idea where this was going.

"Well, the truth is, it's still there." He saw her eyes widen as his smirk increased in size to a devious grin. "I imbued the paint with my chakra and, using a variety of seals, am able to sorta fade it in and out of visibility. It hasn't rained a lot since then, plus I made sure to make it resistant to washing away. You remember hearing about the random stripes of orange around the village?" She nodded once more.

"they weren't really random." The blonde went through a long string of handseals, and the words "UZUMAKI NARUTO IS THE GREATEST NINJA EVER" appeared on the village in bright orange. Hinata-chan just gasped. Exactly ten seconds after the paint reappeared, a collective shout went up fron thousands of villagers simultaneously. Naruto laughed at hearing his name shouted in anger and annoyance by so many people all at once. He waited about ten seconds more before returning the paint to its invisible status.

"So, what did you think?" he turned to her, grinning.

Hinata-chan turned to face him as well. "Naruto-kun, you're a genius!"

His mouth fell open at the compliment. But even more so at the admiration he could feel pouring from the Hyuuga heiress. The blonde regained control of himself, and then the two just stood there, staring at one another. He couldn't help but notice that they were only inches apart, or that she was blindingly beautiful, or that the perfume had worn off throughout the night, and her natural scent, which was pouring into his enhanced sense of smell, made him want to forget everything in the world except the girl in front of him. Before he knew what he was doing, he had swept her up in another kiss, even deeper than the one they had shared that afternoon. The feeling was one of pure bliss and ecstasy, and Naruto hoped it would never end.

But it did, of course, and it left him simultaneously satisfied and wanting more. By her expression, it was clear that she felt the same way. So they kissed again, this time with Naruto actually lifting her off her feet and twirling around with her as though she weighed nothing at all.

By the time they had settled down from their kissing spree, it was nighttime, and the sight of Konoha all lit up, coupled with the star-filled sky, was stunning. The two twelve-year-olds sat there, their feet dangling over the edge of the cliff face between the faces of the Nidaime and Sandaime, just holding hands and being together. Hinata-chan was the first to break the silence. "Naruto-kun, why do the villagers hate you so much?"

Damn! He had hoped she wouldn't ask that yet. Not on their first date. He should have seen it coming, though, as it was hard to miss the glares thrown his way by every person he passed in the street. He wasn't ready to tell her about this yet, but neither was he willing to lie.

He thought about his answer for a moment before sighing deeply. "It's a long and complicated answer, Hinata-chan. And sad too. I want to keep tonight as a happy night. I'll tell you some other time, I promise, okay?"

She looked down in shame. "All right, Naruto-kun; I'm sorry. I won't bring it up again."

The blonde leaned forward and shifted his head around to look her in the eyes. "You have nothing to be sorry about. I'll tell you sometime, I just don't feel up to it tonight." Then he got to his feet. "Speaking of tonight, it's getting kind of late. Want to head home?" It was approaching midnight.

She got up and looked at him with her pear-white eyes. "Yes, let's head home."

"Do you want to take the long way or the short way?" Naruto gave her a mischievous smirk to make sure she knew what he meant by the short way.

The Hyuuga heiress was clearly feeling a bit adventurous tonight. "The short way." She grinned.

And before she could say anything about it, he had scooped her up bridal-style. He went back two hundred yards from the cliff face to give himself a good running start, deactivated his seals, and dashed forward, using chakra to increase his speed to the max. At the edge of the cliff face, he leapt up, facing the direction of the Hyuuga compound, and using a burst of chakra to enhance the strength of his leap. They were in the air for over twenty seconds before landing lightly and silently at the gates to the Hyuuga compound. Their time in the air hadn't been so silent, though, as Naruto shouted "WOOHOO!" at the top of his powerful lungs and Hinata-chan screamed.

She looked up at him from her position in his arms. "Can we do it again?" The Hyuuga heiress was smiling like a child in a candy shop, or Naruto in a ramen shop.

He set her on her feet. "Not tonight, Hinata-chan. Let's get to bed. Goodnight, I had a great time."

"Me too, Naruto-kun." They smiled at each other before sharing one last kiss, then both headed to their respective homes to sleep and have wonderful dreams.

* * *

Naruto arrived at his apartment to find both Haku and Inari awake. "What're you guys doing still up? It's past midnight already." The blonde was puzzled. He would have thought they would have been in bed hours ago.

"Well," the brown-eyed boy smiled at him sweetly, "we were sleeping peacefully, until _some idiot _decided to shout at the top of his very loud lungs while flying halfway across the village.

Naruto gave a sheepish grin and scratched the back of his neck. "Oops..."

"Oops is right, Nauto-niisan, but how did your date go? Did you kiss her again?"

"It went fine, but you should know it;s rude to ask questions like that, and if you do it again, I'll... I'll..." He was too tired to think up a good threat.

"Stop him from ever eating ramen again?" Haku suggested.

The blonde looked aghast. "That's too cruel, Haku."

"Make him run fifty laps around the village wearing hot pink spandex?"

"Yeah, that sounds good. Why don't we all go to sleep now?"

"Good idea," said the other two, Inari preparing to have nightmares about hot pink spandex.


	22. Chapter 22

**chapter 22**

**new faces**

It had been a few months since team 7 returned to Konoha with Haku and Inari. Naruto and Hinata had started seeing each other weekly, except when missions interfered, and both genin greatly enjoyed the time spent in each other's company, be it eating at Ichiraku's, training together, or simply being with one another. The blonde jinchuriki had yet to tell the Hyuuga heiress of the demon he contained. He knew that she had a right to know if their relationship was to continue, but the blue-eyed boy could not shake the irrational fear, stemming from nearly thirteen years of hatred, that she would detest him for the fox.

Today had started out like any other day, and Naruto was currently walking down a street with Sakura, asking what she thought of a new jutsu he had just finished creating yesterday. Since the mission to Wave, he had slowly opened up more to his teammates, letting them know more of his true abilities and skills, but he still kept the Kyuubi a secret.

"Personally, Naruto, I think it's brilliant," the pink-haired kunoichi complimented, "And the fact that you gave it such a ridiculous name would make many ninja think you're joking and not take it seriously until too late."

He grinned widely at his teammate's praise. "Thanks, Sakura. Hey, I heard the chunin exams are coming up soon, think Kakashi-sensei will enter us?"

"He'd better. We're one of the best genin teams in the village, and our mission record shows it." She suddenly noticed that her blonde teammate was no longer walking next to her. The reason for this was quickly revealed.

"Konohamaru! How many times do I have to tell you and your friends that rocks are not square and don't have eyeholes?" He was staring at a conspicuous box lying on the middle of the sidewalk that hadn't been there a moment ago and was decorated to look slightly like a rock.

A voice spoke from inside said rock, "As expected of the man I have high hopes for and is also my rival!"

The box exploded into multicolored smoke leaving behind three coughing eight-year-olds. Said children were Sarutobi Konohamaru and his friends and classmates, Udon and Moegi.

"I told you we used too much gunpowder," wheezed out the glasses-wearing boy.

After finishing their coughing fit, the Konohamaru Corps. looked up in unison at the blond genin.

"Boss," the leader spoke up, "can you play ninja with us today? Pleeeeassseeeee?"

Naruto was trying his hardest to resist the puppy-dog eyes the three children were giving him, but he could feel his will crumbling. Fortunately, his teammate saved him from a long day of child-sitting.

"Why would a ninja play ninja? That's so silly." The pink-haired girl was looking at the youngsters like they were idiots.

Konohamaru looked over at Sakura, noticing her for the first time. "Hey, Boss, who's this ugly girl?"

"Konohamaru..." He took no notice of the blue-eyed boy's attempt to warn him of the impending doom.

"I mean, she has pink hair. Is that even natural?"

"Konohamaru..."

"And her chest is so flat, is she really a girl at all?"

"Konohamaru..."

"And what's up with that forehead? I've never seen a forehead that big in my entire life!"

"Konohamaru..."

"Yes, Boss?"

"Run."

The little boy suddenly saw just how very angry Sakura was, and how she was suddenly overflowing with killer intent, and he ran for his life, with his friends following and a pink-haired kunoichi hot on their heels. Naruto watched as the four rounded the corner.

"Ouch."

"You should watch where you're going, brat."

Having a bad feeling about the unfamiliar voice, the blonde genin quickly went to see what was going on. He found Konohamaru being held up into the air by his shirt collar by a boy of about thirteen or fourteen. The boy was wearing a black suit that covered his entire body except for his hands, feet, and face. Said face was covered in red makeup, and there was a person-sized bandage-covered package on his back. His forehead protector identified him as being from hidden Sand.

Next to the Sand shinobi was a Sand kunoichi, who looked to be a year or two older. Their similar facial structure made Naruto identify them as siblings. She had dirty blonde hair and carried a metal-cased battle fan on her back.

"Put him down, now," Naruto commanded, glaring at the two Sand ninja.

The make-up boy glared right back, "Who's going to make me? You?"

In a blur of speed, the blonde boy was standing between the Sand ninja, holding a kunai to each of their throats. "Yes, as a matter of fact. Now put him down."

He could feel the fear coming off of the two ninja as the boy slowly let Konohamaru to the ground. Apparently, neither had been prepared for his speed. Not surprising as, with his seals deactivated as they were now, he could match or exceed most jonins. Naruto returned the kunais to his pouch and knelt down in front of the child. "You okay, Konohamaru?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Boss."

The blonde Konoha genin smiled at the boy, then turned his attention to the two Suna nins. "Sorry we got off on the wrong foot like that. I'm Uzumaki Naruto; what are your names?"

The fan girl was the one to answer. "I'm Sabaku no Temari and the short-tempered idiot here is my younger brother Kankuro. Please forgive his rash actions."

"No problem, but what about the one over there in the tree? Who's he?" Everyone's eyes widened in surprise as they turned to said tree to see a short redheaded boy with pale green eyes and a gourd on his back. Also in the tree was Sasuke, who was looking at the redhead in shock. In a swirl of sand, the youngest Suna ninja shunshined directly in front of Naruto.

"I am Sabaku no Gaara. You are an interesting boy, Uzumaki Naruto." Blue eyes stared into green, and Naruto instantly felt a deep connection form between them. This boy had suffered all his life in a way similar to what Naruto had experienced. The few seconds of staring was enough to confirm that the redhead was a jinchuriki.

"I feel sorry for you, Gaara. You and I are alike in far too many ways." He spoke quietly enough that only the redhead could hear him.

"Hmm. I will see you in the chunin exams, Uzumaki Naruto. Temari, Kankuro, come." With that, he turned and walked away, his two teammates following submissively.

Sasuke spoke up from his place in the tree. "Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi told me to let you know we're meeting at the bridge today at ten."

The blonde glanced at his watch. "It's almost one; we should probably get going. Sorry, Konohamaru, I'll have to play with you another day.

Team 7 headed off together in the direction of their usual meeting spot, while the Konohamaru Corps. wandered off to find something else to do. A group of three ninjas with musical notes on their forehead protectors had observed the entire scene from afar hidden amongst the trees.

"So, he's the one we're here for?" asked the team's kunoichi.

Her answer came from the heavily-bandaged male in the middle of the group. "Yes, but it's hard to tell anything about him from that brief encounter."

"Ah, why can't we just kill him now and be done with it?!" shouted the final member of the team, only to be silenced by a glare from his teammates.

Little did these three know, but they too were being watched. Further back and hidden under a powerful genjutsu were a trio of nins wearing forehead protectors that labeled them as being from hidden Rain.

The team's sole shinobi was the first to speak up. He had purple eyes and short brown hair thay grew evenly all over his head. He was wearing black pants and a brown shirt a few shades darker than his hair. On the back of his shirt was the kanji for 'invincible.' "So, apparently Orochimaru has some interest in them too. Think we should kill his underlings?" A smile appeared on his face at the thought of murder.

A response came from the kunoichi next to him, a beautiful girl with silky black hair that reached down to her waist, and matching black eyes as cold as her voice. She was dressed in a form-fitting dark green shirt and dark blue shorts that revealed almost all of her lower body. "No killing until the exam, Sora. We should inform Arashi-sama of this, but unless he tells us otherwise, we stick to the plan. Our targets are Gaara and Uzumaki Naruto."

She glanced at the team's third member, a girl with orangeish-red hair and deep hazel eyes. Strapped to her back was a long katana left unsheathed. It was clearly a well-crafted weapon, and the base of the blade was covered in faint markings only visible at certain angles Her loose shirt was a dark orange and her pants a whitish blue Sewn onto her right shoulder was a red triangle with the kanji for 'strength,' while her left shoulder had a light blue one that said 'precision.' "_Arashi-sama_ can go rot in Hell, the bastard. I'm here for one reason and one reason only. And there will be no unnecessary killing during this exam while we are working together. Understand, Sora, Hikaru?" She gave a hard glare to her two teammates, who nodded briefly in submission.

* * *

Team 7's predictably late grey-haired sensei showed up his predictable three hours late. His excuse this time was that he had to grab some paperwork.

"THAT'S A LIE!" Sakura looked over at her blonde teammate when she noticed he hadn't joined in the shouting. Instead, Naruto was looking up at their one-eyed sensei with a hopeful and anticipatory expression.

"Actually, Sakura, it's true this time. I had to go and get these forms for you three to fill out for the chunin exams." As he talked, Kakashi pulled out three sheets of paper from a pocket and held them out to his students.

"WOOHOO!! Chunin exams! Chunin exams! Thanks, Kakashi-sensei, you're the best!" Naruto had grabbed one of the sheets of paper out of the man's hands instantly, and was now jumping around excitedly at the thought of the challenging test to become a chunin.

The grey-haired jonin walked over to his more sedated genin and handed them the remaining two papers. "I suggest you all think deeply about this, because these exams are difficult and usually life-threatening, and while I do believe all three of you are ready, it is up to each one of you to personally choose wether or not to enter. If you do wish to take the exam, be at the Academy room 301 by twelve o'clock tomorrow. That's all for today." And with that, he vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving his students to their thoughts.

Naruto had, of course, filled out the form the moment he had calmed down. More specifically, he had created a kage bushin and had him fill it out while he listened to his sensei. Sasuke took out a pen and started work on his form the moment Kakashi had left. Sakura only thought about it for a moment before she began filling out her own form. The three then parted ways, promising to meet up at the Academy at eleven the next day.

* * *

Naruto and his teammates arrived on the second floor of the Academy to see two henged chunins, who the jinchuriki recognized as people who had never liked him very much, in front of a door marked '301' lecturing a group of genin on the dangers of the exam they were trying to enter.

"Hey!" the blonde shouted out, "What the hell is the point of such a stupid genjutsu?! Anyone who can't spot something like that is just going to get thrown out of the exam anyway. And to top it off, all of the Konoha genin should recognize that door from their time here as the staircase to the third floor, mot room 301, or even 201 for that matter!"

His loud voice had attracted the attention of every single person in the hallway, including, he noted, Tenten and two people who were presumably her teammates.

One of the chunin-disguised-as-genin whose name was, Naruto believed, Kotetsu, glared at him, "Just because you saw through the illusion, brat, doesn't mean you should be allowed into this exam." He charged at the blonde and threw a kick towards his stomach.

Naruto was considering grabbing the man's leg and throwing him through the wall as a lesson not to underestimate an opponent when a boy who could only have been Rock Lee, going by Tenten's description of her taijutsu-loving teammate, rushed in and blocked the kick himself.

His chocolate-eyed teammate walked up to him "Lee, what are you doing? You were the one who decided we shouldn't do anything to stand out." She then glanced at the blonde, "Oh, hello Naruto." He returned the greeting with a small smile and a friendly nod.

"But..." the spandex-wearing genin protested, while looking at Sakura with a slight blush on his face. Then he walked over to her, still blushing, "My name is Rock Lee! You are Sakura, correct? Please go on a date with me! I'll protect you until I die!" He smiled at the pink-haired kunoichi, revealing perfectly white teeth that seemed to sparkle.

Naturally, Sakura had no idea of how to react to this. "Umm... I... Uhh... I already have a boy that I'm interested in. Sorry, Lee." The taijutsu user seemed depressed about this until Tenten spoke up again.

"Naruto, these are my teammates, Hyuuga Neji, and you've already met Lee. Neji, Lee, this is my friend Uzumaki Naruto and his teammates." Apparently, she had decided that some introductions were in order.

Lee perked up at this. "Ah, so you are Naruto-kun. It is a pleasure to meet you. I have seen you doing early-morning exercises around the village many times. Your flames of youth burn brightly!"

"Umm, thanks Lee. These are my teammates, Hanuro Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke. Hey Neji, you're Hinata-chan's cousin, right?"

The pale-eyed boy gave him a cold stare. "Yes. Hinata-sama speaks of you often, Uzumaki." He turned his head towards Sasuke, somehow managing to make even this simple gesture look arrogant. "I look forward to defeating you in these exams, _Uchiha_._"_

It was proof of how much the black-haired boy had managed to tone down his ego in the past months that he didn't attack the other boy right then and there for the insult to his clan. Instead, he settled for a simple killing-intent-laden glare before brushing past him and heading to the stairs, his teammates following.

As he walked away, Naruto smiled apologetically at the other two members of the Hyuuga's team. "Well, see you two in the exams, I guess."

* * *

After learning that they were too early and would not yet be let into the exam room, the three members of team 7 went to the Academy dojo to wait out the remaining fifteen minutes. No sooner had they arrived than they again met up with Rock Lee.

"Uchiha Sasuke, as a way of testing myself against a genius of talent, I request a spar with you." The green-clad genin was staring seriously at the Uchiha.

Sasuke was about to accept the challenge when his blonde teammate intervened. "Wait. Lee, from what Tenten has told me about you, I can safely say that the way he is now, Sasuke stands no chance against you. Your taijutsu-only fighting style is the perfect counter to his sharingan until he manages to improve his speed significantly. Please allow me to test myself against you instead."

The other boy considered this for a moment before accepting. "I agree to your challenge, Naruto-kun."

Naruto (with his seals still activated) dashed forward at full speed, cocking back his fist for a punch. Lee, momentarily surprised by the blonde's speed, was only barely able to dodge. The following kick, however, he blocked using his forearm. He was not expecting the sheer power behind the kick and was thrown back several yards. Had it not been for his intensive training with Gai-sensei, his arm would have been broken.

The older genin then charged in himself, planning on taking advantage of the obvious holes in his opponent's defense. He dodged the blonde's highly-telegraphed attempt at a kick before jumping and spinning, hitting his opponent in the side with one leg, then the other.

Ignoring the pain from the powerful blows against his ribs, which did not manage to shift him thanks to the extra weight, Naruto threw another punch at the green-wearing genin, and, when his opponent again moved to block his fist, he opened his hand and grabbed Lee's arm. Twisting his upper body while pivoting on his right foot, the blonde spun the boy in a half-circle before hurling him at the far wall.

Lee twisted himself in midair during his brief flight, hitting the wall feet first and crouching into the landing to absorb the force of the impact. He still felt pain jolt through his legs as they sunk _into_ the wall, creating a small crater to mark where he hit. Landing on the wood floor, he looked over at the blonde genin, "You are strong, Naruto-kun. It is time I got serious." While speaking, he was unwrapping the bandages around his arms until they draped to the floor. With that, he dashed forward in a sudden burst of speed and performed a hard, strong upwards kick to the boy's unprotected chest.

When his opponent only rose about five feet vertically, he realized that the blonde must have been wearing heavy weights. Not deterred by this, he leapt into the air as well, sending repeated kicks to the genin's chest to keep him rising higher and higher. On reaching the apex of their flight, he prepared to wrap the bandages tightly around the other boy's upper body from behind, but two things happened simultaneously.

Naruto, who had grown adept at sensing people behind him over the years, thrust both of his feet backwards in a powerful mule kick to Lee's stomach. He also saw a... pink pinwheel... fly through the air and attach one of the loose bandages to the wall. A few speedy calculations showed that the kick in conjunction with the anchored bandage would send Lee headfirst into the hard wall with enough force to break his skull. Even though the blonde had just officially met the boy less than an hour ago, he liked him and was unwilling to let a friend die.

Seeing nothing else he could do in such a short time, Naruto used the modified version of kage bushin he had been working on ever since he had learned the original. It required the chakra equivalent of five hundred regular kage bushins, so the blonde was the only person in the village capable of pulling it off and still retaining enough chakra to make it useful. What it did was to create a single clone at a specific spot in range of the user's senses, but the clone would differ from an ordinary kage bushin in that it could only be killed by a fatal injury. Currently, there was a problem of the clone overloading after ten seconds and destroying everything in a fifty yard radius with an enormous burst of chakra, but he didn't need ten seconds.

The modified kage bushin appeared directly in Lee's path and cushioned him to keep him safe uring the impact. As soon as this was done, the clone rushed up to the Academy roof in a blur of orange, spent a couple seconds concentrating all his chakra to his legs, and leapt several hundred feet in the air before exploding in a bright blue flash that was heard, seen, and/or felt by everyone in the village.

"You all right, Fuzzy-brows?" Naruto didn't mean any disrespect by the nickname, and the concern on his face proved it.

Lee, winded and breathing heavily after his near-death experience, looked up at the blonde. "Yes. thank you, Naruto-kun."

The blue-eyed genin looked to see where the pink pinwheel had come from and saw... a turtle. As he walked back to his teammates, he heard the turtle berating the older genin. That was when he felt a somewhat familiar chakra signature approaching rapidly, and his eyes widened in horror. "We have to get out of here, now!"

Sensing the urgency in his voice, Sakura and Sasuke began to run with him, bu they were too late.

"YOSH! WHERE ARE YOU THREE HIP STUDENTS OF MY ETERNAL RIVAL KAKASHI GOING IN THE SPRINGTIME OF YOUR YOUTH?!" Team 7 turned in unison to the voice and saw a sight that made their skin crawl – Maito Gai.

Ten minutes later, a bored Kakashi watched as his students walked slowly towards the door to room 301, all three seemingly recovering from a state of shock.

"I'm telling you, that wasn't a genjutsu. Thanks to what we think is a bloodline limit, I'm impervious to genjutsus, but we all saw the same thing back there." He heard Naruto talking in a quiet voice, as though whatever it was had scared him half to death.

"But..." the team's kunoichi countered weakly, "what was it then? A sunset and ocean don't just appear out of nowhere."

The Uchiha was the one to speak sensibly. "Let's just pretend it never happened and move on." His teammates agreed to this. They each handed their sensei the forms he had given them the day before.

"You're all here; good. If one of you hadn't showed up, I would have been forced to disqualify you." He paused momentarily. "I see you three met Gai and his favorite pupil. Good luck in the exam, and may the springtime of youth be with you." All three genin simultaneously hit the grey-haired jonin on the head hard enough that he actually broke through the wood floor. The young ninja shrugged and walked through the door, Naruto in front with Sasuke flanking him on his right and Sakura on his left.

* * *

The moment he walked into the room, Naruto looked around, trying to see into the eyes of all the genin in his vision. He simultaneously started searching out chakra signatures, wanting to be sure to keep track of any abnormal ones. He immediately picked up his friends on the other two rookie teams, as well as team Gai and the three from Suna he had run into the previous day. Gaara's signature was the most noticeable in the room: it was huge and had relatively high quantities of demonic chakra mixed in, making the blonde wonder how stable the seal holding the Ichibi in place was.

As much as he had hated to do it, he had talked to the Kyuubi last night to find out what she thought about the boy. At first, she had been reluctant to speak with him, but he quickly reminded her of who was in charge by using his shinkagan to send massive dose of despair, sadness, and, grief straight into her brain. After she settled down enough to talk, the kitsune was more than happy to share everything she knew about the weakest of the bijuu and its abilities.

Scanning the room, Naruto found a few more chakra signatures that caught his attention. First was a team of genin near the back of the room with a music note on their forehead protectors. While not recognizing the symbol, he could easily sense the way they were focusing their attention on his Uchiha teammate. He's have to watch out for them.

Next were three chakras noticeably larger than those of the people around them, each one at least on par with a jonin. He couldn't see the owners of these abnormally large chakras, but he could feel pure malice and desire to kill radiating off of two of them while the third seemed almost... familiar.

The final two chakra signatures the blonde found odd he noticed were both being suppressed. Having had to suppress his own chakra signature most of his life, as it had reached Kage level before his seventh birthday, and he didn't want the villagers to have another reason to want him dead, Naruto was an expert at spotting others who were doing the same. The first he couldn't pin down to a person he could see, but it felt about equal to Kakashi-sensei's, being suppressed to appear at high genin level.

The second he tracked to a long-haired Grass nin. Whoever this person was, they were good. He couldn't tell how large his chakra would normally be, making him suspect that it was extremely large indeed. Naruto could tell the ninja was a male, albeit a very female-looking male. As he looked closer, he could sense something was off with the man's chakra. Very off. Scratch that, something was off with the man's soul, as though part of it was just... missing. Somehow, he instinctively knew that this man, whoever he was, had somehow been influenced by the bastard who fancied himself Naruto's father.

"Naruto-kun, are you all right?" He was roused from his thoughts by Hinata-chan's voice, and the blonde suddenly noticed that all the rest of the Rookie Nine were gathered around him, looking at him strangely. Then again, he'd been paying no attention to his immediate surroundings for nearly a full minute.

He smiled at the beautiful Hyuuga. "Yeah, I'm fine, Hinata-chan. Nice to see all you guys here."

"How've you been, Naruto?" It was Kiba. "Looking forward to beating up all these losers along with me and Akamaru?" The small white dog barked in agreement.

The blonde decided to tease his friend a bit. "I dunno, do you two think you'll be able to keep up with me now, mutt?"

The dog boy gave a shout of indignation and was in the middle of formulating a comeback when an unfamiliar voice spoke up. "You guys should keep it down in here. It's not good to attract too much attention."

One look at the glasses-wearing teen was all Naruto needed to know he was a spy. His was the other suppressed chakra signature, and the blonde could practically taste the deceit rolling off of him thanks to the shinkagan. "What's your name?" he asked, careful to keep his voice normal.

"I'm Yakushi Kabuto," at least that wasn't a lie, "and I was wanting to give some advice to my cute underclassmen, seeing as this is your first time here. Also, Sakura here is my student in the medical ninja arts." The second part was a lie, and the final part was, of course, true.

The blue-eyed boy chose not to participate in the continuing conversation, not trusting himself to keep up an unsuspecting facade while speaking to the liar wearing a Konoha forehead protector. Apparently, the village with the music note forehead protector was the village of Sound, and going by Kabuto's concealed emotions as he spoke of it, it was the village he worked for. On hearing that the teen had information on all the examinees, and hearing Sasuke ask for Gaara and himself, he perked up, adding the long-haired Kusa genin.

This shocked Kabuto so much that it actually showed on his face for a spit second. He glanced in the direction Naruto was pointing, as though to see just who he was talking about. "Sorry, I don't have anything on her." A blatant lie, but apparently this Kabuto was working for the Kusa nin, if his emotions were anything to go by. "Now, Sabaku no Gaara and Uzumaki Naruto, right?"

He pulled out two cards and showed them Gaara first. "Let's see... No information on his abilities, teammates are Kankuro and Temari, jonin sensei's name is Baki. Completed 16 D-ranks, 30 C-ranks, and, wow, a B-rank as a genin. And apparently he came back from all his missions unscathed as well."

Naruto was the only one to see through the subtle but powerful genjutsu on the card. The information it really had was that he was the jinchuriki of the Ichibi, could control sand, and had an "absolute defense" in the form of heavily chakra-saturated sand that the bijuu controlled to protect him from any and all attacks. It went on to talk about how he could release Shukakku's power in several stages, ending with the demon being completely free except for the requirement of Gaara's continuous state of sleep. There was also a note at the bottom of the card that said "Akatsuki target #3."

When it came time for Naruto's card, he was unsurprised to see the same genjutsu used to conceal the true information. By Kabuto's description, he was a genin of outstanding skill whose most noteworthy piece on information was that he had been on an A-rank mission and that all his missions were completed successfully. The card actually told quite a different story, knowing everything about him except for his bloodline (which included his genjutsu immunity). It even listed his parents, though nothing was said about his father being a fucking bastard. Just as on Gaara's card, there was a message at the bottom. "Akatsuki final target. DO NOT KILL." Well, whatever this 'red dawn' was, it clearly had some relation to his father.

"I must say, Naruto-kun, based on what this card says, it seems you might be one of the most powerful genin in these exams." Not sure how to react to a compliment from this bastard, Naruto decided to do something he had been itching to do since entering the room.

First, just to make sure he had _everyone's_ attention, he jumped to the ceiling and used chakra to cling there with his feet. Then the energetic blonde took in a deep breath and shouted at the top of his voice: "YA HEAR THAT? MY NAME IS UZUMAKI NARUTO, AND I'M NOT GONNA LOSE TO ANY OF YOU JERKS!!" Naturally, half of Konoha heard him.

While up there shouting, the loud orange-clad ninja took a moment to scout out the owners of the three chakra signatures he had noticed previously but had been unable to link with a person. It was a trio of Ame nins, all three of whom were glaring right back at him, two in what was definitely hate coated in killing intent and the third in... excitement?

She had orangeish-red hair and a dark orange shirt. He definitely approved of her choice of clothes, and, wether or not it was natural, he liked her hair. Her dark hazel eyes showed nothing but excitement and happiness when she looked at him. Then she too leapt up to the ceiling. "OH YEAH? I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY AND BEAT ME, YOU BASTARD!!" She somehow managed to shout even louder than the blonde just had.

Not one to be outdone in a shouting match, Naruto used chakra to amplify the volume of his voice. "JUST YOU WAIT! I'LL TAKE YOU ANY TIME, ANYWHERE BITCH!!" Fortunately for their ears, all the ninja in a hundred yards of the Academy had had the sense to deaden their hearing with chakra; the civilians in that radius became permanently deaf. Over in the Fiire Country's capital, nearly one hundred miles away, Tora the cat heard the shout and cringed in fear, remembering the owner of the voice and how mean he had been.

The kunoichi was about to shout back what was likely an even louder retort when a man appeared at the front of the room with a burst of smoke and a roar of: "SILENCE!" While nowhere near as loud as the previous shouts, it still caught everyone's attention, as did the man's size and scarred face, plus the fact that there were a score of chunin behind him.

"If you two aren't standing on the floor in .01 seconds-" in an instant, both genin had launched themselves off the roof in a burst of chakra to ensure they made it to the floor in the required time. Naturally, both landed headfirst.

"Good. Now, I am the proctor of the first stage of the Chunin Selection Exams, Morino Ibiki."


	23. Chapter 23

**chapter 23**

**chunin exams begin**

Listening to the explanation of the first exam had been... interesting to say the least. On first discovering that it would be a paper test, Naruto had completely freaked out. But when Ibiki started to explain the rules, the blonde was able to see the true meaning of the test clear as day through the half-truths and lies. If he was reading the situation right, the entire pass/fail decision for the test would be decided by the tenth question.

It reminded him of the bell test Kakashi-sensei had given them on first becoming team 7. There were the rules he stated, the rules he hid, and the hidden meaning behind it all. All around him, Naruto could feel people's chakras acting up as they got to work on their various methods of cheating. Had he felt like it, Naruto could have done so as well. All it would take was a kage bushin henged into a fly. Have him go around the room looking at people's papers, then fly outside and dispel to get the necessary information back to the original.

But thanks to knowing that nothing but the final question truly counted, the blonde chose to ignore finding out the answers to the first nine. Besides, it was his duty as a Konoha ninja to inform the village of spies like Kabuto with highly-classified information.

As such, he spent the first forty-five minutes encoding a message in his answers. It was short and to the point: "_Yakushi Kabuto spy for Oto. Likely elite jonin level. Has classified information. Long-haired Kusa genin in seat 142 is his superior. Likely Kage level. Sound ninja seem to have special interest in Uchiha._" While the real Naruto was doing this, he had in fact made a kage bushin henged into a fly, but not to spy out the answers. He wanted to spy on the examinees.

* * *

Naruto's kage bushin coalesced into existence just after Ibiki ordered the start of the test. He was quite glad his creator had mastered the jutsu to the point where he could do it seallessly with proper concentration. The moment he appeared, he knew exactly what he needed to do, what he had been created to do.

In the form of a fly, he began to move about the room, almost unnoticed. Shino, of course, spotted him instantly; an insect that was not an insect stood out to an Aburame like a shouting Naruto did to the people of Konoha. The bug-user, with his logical way of viewing the world, had figured out the hidden rules to the test almost right off the bat, and the Naruto-fly could see one of his insects buzzing about the room, looking for answers.

It seemed Shikamaru, too, had realized the true meaning, as a small tendril of shadow connected him to his overweight friend, both writing out the answers perfectly simultaneously with the aid of the Nara's blistering intelligence.

Kabuto and his mysterious master were using their own knowledge to come up with answers, performing just well enough to seem like an average genin-taking-the-chunin-exams. The kage bushin could also see Sakura as she figured out the questions on her own. He saw her give a worried glance to his creator, sitting a few rows ahead of her, before seemingly assuring herself that Naruto would be all right.

It was around this time that many of the remaining examinees realized they had to cheat. He saw Hinata-chan (she was so pretty) and Neji use their byakugans to spy others' answers. Sasuke was using his sharingan to copy the movements of the disguised chunin in front of him. Tenten used mirrors held by kunai to get the answers for both herself and Lee. Kiba took full advantage of Akamaru. And Ino used her shintenshin no jutsu to cheat off of Sakura after the pink-haired girl finished.

But how his friends got through this part of the exam wasn't what Naruto cared about. They were all good ninja and he was sure they would be fine. What he was really interested in now was seeing what Gaara and his siblings diid, along with the three Oto genin, and, of course, the Ame team with the loud kunoichi.

From what he could deduce, the Sound nins had all chosen a simple, if difficult, method that was actually quite fitting given the name of their village. A bit of chakra channeled to the ears plus some careful listening, and any decent shinobi or kunoichi could figure out what someone was writing by the sound alone.

The Sand siblings had picked an interesting way of going about their cheating. While Gaara used his sand to somehow make an extra eye coalesce, which he could apparently see out of, Temari did absolutely nothing. The third member, he finally figured out, was a puppeteer. He had disguised his puppet as one of the examiners and was spying on everyone he could see. Kankuro eventually asked to be allowed to go to the bathroom, being sure to take his toy with him. On returning, he slipped the answers to his elder sister.

The three Ame ninja caught his attention the most. Each one was acting individually, not bothering to assist their teammates. In some part of his brain, the blonde-disguised-as-a-fly came to the conclusion that these three honestly didn't care about each other as teammates.

The sole male's method of cheating was one of the most disgusting things Naruto had ever seen, and that was saying something, considering that he had watched as a man ate another man's eyeballs. The purple-eyed ninja took out a kunai and literally dug into his own chest, not showing the slightest sign of pain as the sharp blade dug its way toward his heart. Then, like some kind of surgeon, he carved out a small part of his own body and, after cleaning off the blood, dropped it to the ground. By this time, the gaping hole in his chest had healed itself. Meanwhile, the chunk of skin and muscle actually began to move about the room, getting into positions where it could "see" others' tests. Then it returned to the Ame shinobi and somehow absorbed itself into his body. He then proceeded to write down all the answers.

The black-haired kunoichi's means of information-gathering, while nowhere near as vomit-inducing as her teammate's, was still... strange enough to leave the kage bushin feeling ill. She began by running through a long string of handseals under her desk. On completing the sequence, a powerful room-wide genjutsu came into effect, causing everyone to simply see her sitting in her seat, when in fact nothing of the sort was happening. What actually occurred beneath the illusion was that her body... fell apart. All her bones detached from one another and started moving about the room individually, along with whatever skin and tissues were attached to them. The freakiest part of all this was that the girl had no internal organs or blood. Her entire body consisted solely of skin, bones, and muscles. After a while, she... reformed herself and filled in the test.

When Naruto went to spy on the hazel-eyed kunoichi, he half-expected to see her also doing something gross with her body. Then again, she was clearly so fundamentally different from her teammates and just about everyone else in the room that he wouldn't be surprised to see some completely unexpected method of cheating.

What fly-Naruto did see her doing, however, took him so much by surprise that he nearly dropped out of the air and released the henge. She was drawing pictures. Every bit of available space was filled with drawings, and the entire back of the paper was being used for an elaborate pencil sketch. She hadn't bothered to answer a single question. In fact, the drawing on the back was being made using a large set of colored pencil she had taken from somewhere.

Each and every one of the drawings was extremely detailed and realistic, showing accurate depictions of various people and their surroundings. They also all had something in common: every single picture was of a battle between two ninja, one of the ninja was always the kunoichi herself, and she was always smiling. Each drawing showed what an experienced fighter could discern as the deciding moment of the fight. Both fighters were clashing together for the final time, and the one with a greater will to win would emerge victorious.

The sketch on the back, however, was different. It showed the two fighters standing across from each other, preparing to begin a life-or-death struggle. Nevertheless, _both_ were smiling in this drawing. The stage for this battle appeared to be some sort of arena, with faceless spectators watching in the background. But the way the scenery was drawn, it seemed somehow unimportant, as if the only things that mattered in the whole world were the two combatants and their coming duel. Except for the two in the foreground, everything was drawn in shades of grey.

Taking a closer look at the twin centerpieces of the drawing, Naruto saw that the one on the left was again the orangeish-red-haired kunoichi, and that she was dressed in the same clothes she was wearing right now. The katana currently strapped to her back was held before her in a ready position, and her entire posture showed that she had been wanting this fight for years.

The fighter on the right side of the drawing... was Naruto. He was standing there, twin giant swords out before him, a determined expression on his face, his bright blue eyes seemingly set halfway between a smile and the deep stare of concentration he wore during fights. He too was dressed in the same orange-and-black jumpsuit he was wearing at this moment, and his bright yellow spiky hair stood out against his surroundings just as it always did.

Soon after she completed the drawing, Ibiki called out that it was time for the final question, and the kage bushin flew out of the room and dispelled himself in a poof of smoke, sending his memories and experiences back to the original Naruto.

* * *

As he half-listened to Ibiki's rules about the tenth question, Naruto found himself wondering just who the hell that kunoichi was and what her interest was in him. He knew for a fact that he had never seen her before, so how did she know what his swords looked like, down to the tiniest detail? Sometime soon he would have to find out more about her.

But those thoughts would have to be pushed to the side for the moment. There was an exam going on. All around him, genin were falling for Ibiki's trap and giving up. Playing with people's emotions like that wasn't something the blonde approved of, but anyone who couldn't realize what the man was doing likely didn't deserve to be a chunin.

That was when he felt doubt enter the mind of his pink-haired teammate. Sakura was having second thoughts. It was Naruto's duty as a member of team 7 to do something.

Without really thinking about what he was doing, the blonde leapt to his feet, slamming his hand down on his desk to make sure he had everyone's attention. Naturally, he hit the desk a bit too hard, and the whole thing broke into pieces. "Screw you! I'm not gonna run away!" He was quite surprised to hear that his voice wasn't the only one shouting. Naruto turned around in surprise to see the loud kunoichi also standing in front of a broken desk. She was looking back at him with an equally surprised expression.

She gave him a silent signal to go first, so he turned back to Ibiki and shouted, "I'm gonna become Hokage no matter what! So even if I remain a genin forever, I'll still become Hokage someday! Hurry up and give us the damn question already!" He resumed his seat at his now-destroyed desk.

Seeing that it was her turn, the kunoichi began, "What kinda idiot would give up just because there's a lot at stake?! I promise I won't! So give us the best you've got!" She too sat down at the demolished remains of what was once a desk.

Looking around the room, Ibiki could see nothing but determined faces. "Are you sure? This is your last chance."

"I will never take back my words. That is my way of the ninja."

"Once I make a promise, I keep it, even if it costs me my life."

"Very well. Each and every one of you... passes."

Amidst the exclamations of confusion, Naruto and the kunoichi both broke down into laughter, unable to hold in their amusement at the situation any longer.

A half-hour later, when the examinees had all gone off to the next exam, Ibiki was picking up papers. On getting to Naruto's, he stopped. How the hell did the kid know the standard ANBU sign for a written high-priority coded message? Never mind that for a moment, what could be so important that he'd use his exam time to encode the information in a test. Seeing that the message was adressed to Kakashi, he went to find the one-eyed jonin.

* * *

Naruto was still upset at how this new lady, Mitarashi Anko, had made such a show entrance. Flashy appearances were _his_ department, damn it! As such, he couldn't resist poking a bit of fun at her when she talked about the Forest of Death. "Huh. Doesn't seem that scary to me. Bring it on!" Almost faster than he could see, a kunai was flying at him. He tilted his head slightly to the side, and he weapon missed his intended target.

But before he could shout at her about it, she shunshined behind him with a second kunai and scratched his cheek anyway. He stopped his reflexive elbow strike to her gut less than a millimeter from contact. As the blonde felt the psychotic jonin licking a drop of blood from his cheek, however, he almost wished he had let himself hit her. "Mmm. You taste so delicious, I just want to eat you all up." The way she had phrased her statement made Naruto think of another, darker, person-eating psychopath, and he involuntarily released a powerful wave of killing intent, paralyzing almost everyone present except for Kabuto (who faked it), Sasuke (who had been training to ignore powerful killing intent in preparation for his eventual showdown with Itachi), Gaara (who regularly gave out blasts of killing intent near that level), Anko (who was, of course,a jonin), and the loud kunoichi. And the long-haired Kusa nin who, Naruto realized with a sudden shock, was standing directly behind them.

"I don't appreciate people sneaking up on me from behind. Don't do it again unless you want to die young," Anko warned. Naruto was the only one to detect the hidden surprise in her voice.

The Kusa 'genin' spoke up at this point, though how he did so was a mystery, considering that there were several feet of tongue outside his mouth. "I was just returning your kunai." The tip of his extremely long tongue was wrapped around the weapon's handle. Anko took it back with a smiling thank you, but her surprise had since turned to sheer terror.

* * *

After that incident was over, she went on to explain the rules to the exam and passed out consent forms to the collected genin. They were given an hour to decide wether or not to continue. During that time, Naruto gathered together his friends and team Gai.

"So, we're all here now. What did you want to tell us, Naruto?" This was Kiba, impatient as ever.

He decided to satisfy the dog-boy and got straight to the point. "Well, I was thinking that, since we're all friends on some level or another, we should all agree to not attack each other during this exam and to help each other if we see one of our teams in trouble."

Shikamaru was the first to comment. "That sounds good. Banding together a bit to give us all an easier time. It's troublesome, but I accept." Everyone else agreed except for Neji, who was still forced to join in by being outvoted two to one.

"There's something else you're not telling us, Naruto-kun. What is it?" Hinata-chan had become quite adept at reading the blonde. His nervousness was clear to her, and completely out of character.

"A few of the other teams, we need to be careful of them. They're not normal genin." At this point, his slight fear was obvious to everyone.

"Which teams do you think we should avoid?" asked Tenten.

Sasuke spoke up before Naruto could answer. "I'm guessing one of them is the Sand team. There's something about that Gaara kid that just... isn't right."

"Yeah, definitely stay away from Gaara. As well as the team from Rain with that kunoichi I got into a shouting match with. Their chakra levels are way higher than a genin's should be. And you all saw that Grass nin with the really long tongue?" Seeing everyone nod, he continued, "If you spot him in the forest, run away. Do not engage him, and hope he doesn't notice you. I don't know who he is, but he's powerful, on a level rivaling the Hokage."

"W-wait, what do you mean he's as powerful as Hokage-sama?" Ino questioned.

Shino made his presence known. "He means exactly what he said. That ninja is at the level of a kage, and has likely infiltrated the chunin exams, presumably with a specific purpose in mind." It was the most any of them had heard from the Aburame.

"Wait, if someone like that has snuck into the exams, shouldn't we tell someone?" Sakura protested.

Naruto looked over at her. "Already taken care of. I wrote a coded message into my test answers, which Kakashi-sensei should be reading as we speak."

Chouji found this strange. "Huh? But weren't you afraid you'd fail the exam?"

Since he couldn't just come out and tell his friends that he had known Ibiki was lying thanks to a bloodline limit, Naruto was forced to think on the spot. "Oh, well I figured getting out important information that related to village safety was far more important, plus there was still the tenth question, which turned out to be all we needed in the first place."

"Yosh! Your flames of youth for Konoha burn brightly Naruto-kun, but it is almost time for the exam to start." It was strange to hear Lee say something sensible.

"You're right, we should probably all get going. See you all at the tower!" With a smile to all his friends and a kiss to Hinata-chan for luck, each team went their separate ways.

* * *

"So, Kakashi, what is this about?" asked the head of torture and interrogation.

The grey-haired jonin looked at the paper in front of him. "Hmm, it looks to be a code that my genin and I developed as a team. No one outside of the four of us can break it. As for how Naruto knows ANBU code signals, I have no idea, but he can be quite surprising at times..." He lapsed into silence as he worked out the code.

Then the jonin gasped. "I need to see Hokage-sama right away, and you should begin compiling all the information we have on the hidden Sound village, as well as a Konoha genin by the name of Yakushi Kabuto." Realizing the gravity of the situation, both men hurried off to do what needed to be done.

* * *

Team 7 had only been in the forest a couple hours. With the aid of Naruto's kage bushins, they had already found another genin team and procured their scroll and were now headed full speed towards the tower, hoping to finish the exam before running into the Kusa 'genin,' who the blonde just _knew_ was after Sasuke for whatever reason.

Unfortunately, it wasn't long before the group was hit unexpectedly by an absurdly power wind jutsu, targeting Naruto specifically. Their most powerful was blown clear out of sight and through more than fifty trees before he ended up embedded several feet inside of a rock face, barely hanging on to consciousness.

Sasuke and Sakura found themselves standing in front of the grass nin they had been trying to avoid.


	24. Chapter 24

**chapter 24**

**Orochimaru**

Sasuke and Sakura knew they had to run. Naruto had sounded scared when he had talked about this guy... girl... person, and neither had ever heard their blonde friend truly scared before. But they couldn't seem to move.

The ninja stared at the two genin with an expression that could only be described as hunger, as though inches away from something long desired. "Ku ku ku. Look what we have here. Two sweet little morsels all ripe for the taking." The laugh and the tone of voice only served to increase their fear.

"S-stay away! There's no need to fight; our teammate has our scroll." As much as he was trying to present a brave front, Sasuke was unable to hide his terror at the pure evil he could feel from this person.

Sakura tried resorting to logic to keep her emotions in check. "Be-besides, it's two o-on one here, you don't know you'll win."

The Gras nin took out his own scroll. "Well then, there's no reason for you to not try for my scroll." With those words, he wrapped up the scroll in his abnormally long tongue and swallowed it whole. He looked at the two frightened children before him. "Well then, let us begin." He released a massive amount of killing intent focused straight on the younger ninjas, freezing them where they stood.

* * *

Naruto slowly and painfully dragged himself out of the hole in the cliff face he was buried in. Judging by the extreme pain he felt, his right thighbone was broken clean in two pieces. It was an injury that he knew, even with the fox, would take at least ten hours to heal. Ten hours he didn't have; the only person in this forest capable of putting that much chakra into a wind jutsu, besides himself, would be that long-haired nin. He had to get back to his team, and fast.

So he concentrated an enormous amount of chakra to his upper leg to hold it together. It wouldn't be enough to use the leg in a fight, but it would be fine for basic movement, as long as he could ignore the intense pain shooting through it at every movement. The worst part was that he'd have to rely solely on ninjutsu for any fights.

And as luck would have it, one such fight would be happening immediately, as a snake so large it had to be a summon was waiting for the injured blonde. He didn't have the time to deal with something like this. As he flashed through handseals and poured an insanely excessive amount of chakra into his jutsu, Naruto's mind flashed through the implications of the snake summon's presence.

Thinking back to his history lessons, the only currently-living snake summoner with Kage-level chakra capacity was the current owner of said contract: Orochimaru. Having an identity for the mysterious nin, however, did nothing to calm him. In fact, it only served to make him worry more. What could make the snake Sannin return to the place that most wanted his head?

"**Fuuton: Kitaeru Kaze Dangan no Jutsu"** (wind element: drilling wind bullet technique)

Naruto thrust both hands towards the snake quickly. A huge rotating blast of air nearly twenty yards in diameter shot out from his location. The giant air bullet went straight for the snake at high speeds, and the summoned reptile was shredded to pieces by the rotation air, as was everything else in its path.

Breathing heavily for a moment after using up twice the normal jonin's chakra reserves in one go, the jinchuriki used his advanced senses to find his teammates before running off in that direction.

* * *

Sasuke, thanks to the killing intent resistance training he had been putting himself through, was slowly working to throw off the paralysis. Seeing this, Orochimaru smiled. "Very good, Sasuke-kun. Your mind is stronger than I had expected. Now let's see how your body is."

With that, he dashed forward at a speed that the Uchiha's sharingan could barely follow. He was forced to concentrate solely on dodging, before his enemy took the fight up a notch. What occurred next was the worst beating of Sasuke's life.

After several minutes of near-constant punching and kicking, Orochimaru stepped back to allow his plaything to recover slightly.

At this point, Sasuke was in so much pain he could barely move. Nevertheless, only one thought was running through his head. "Sakura! Get out of here, I'll hold him off!"

"No! I'm not going to leave you alone, Sasuke-kun!" The pink-haired kunoichi, instead of following her crush's order, leapt over to his location and began healing him, completely ignoring the powerful ninja standing there watching.

"Ku ku ku. Very intelligent thinking, Sasuke-kun. When facing a predator, the only choice prey has is to run away while distracting it with something it wants. But your time is up now!" And with that, he dashed forward prepared to finish what he had come for.

"**Raiton: Tsuiraku Rakurai no Jutsu" **(lightning element: crashing lightning bolt technique)

Orochimaru barely avoided a direct hit from the huge lightning bolt that fell directly on his position, completely destroying the limb he was on. "Ah, Naruto-kun. You certainly got here sooner than I had expected."

Standing on a nearby tree, his hands still holding the last handseal of his jutsu. "Stay the hell away from Sasuke, you bastard!" He glared at the snake Sannin whose clothes were now slightly singed.

At the same time, four shadow clones were preparing to place four barrier seals around Sakura and Sasuke to keep the dangerous man from getting to them. Orochimaru, however, was not about to allow that, and four kunai moving faster than any of the genin could track dispelled the kage bushins in an instant.

The real Naruto, meanwhile, was preparing another jutsu. But his opponent did not want to be interrupted any further. The next thing he knew, he was completely restrained by an enormous tongue, and it wouldn't even budge no matter how much he struggled. Then the blonde saw purple flames appearing on the fingertips of the Sannin's right hand. Recognizing the jutsu, he began to expel chakra from his body as fast as he could, hoping to have low enough chakra levels to remain conscious when the seal came into effect. The tip of the tongue pushed his shirt out of the way.

"Gogyo Fuuin!"

The pain was so great that he couldn't even scream. Once the blonde's convulsions stopped, Orochimaru threw him to the side like a rag doll. He then returned his gaze to his intended target, who, he casually noted, had thrown three wire-controlled shuriken. Curious as to what the Uchiha was planning, he let the wires wrap around him and pin him to the tree. He watched as the boy ran through a series of handseals he had never seen before, but they bore a striking resemblance to the seal series for the katon: ryuka no jutsu. What he didn't know was that Naruto had made a hobby of finding tiny flaws in jutsus that others overlooked and fixing them. This was an improved version of the jutsu he had created for Sasuke.

As the flames rushed towards him, Orochimaru saw that they were a much hotter blue-white, instead of the normal red of a fire jutsu. If he stayed where he was, he might actually get hurt, and as such, the snake Sannin opted for a kawarimi.

Absently noting that the log and a large chunk of the tree were disintegrated by the heat, he performed the kanashibari no jutsu on the Uchiha. The boy had managed to meet and exceed his expectations. "Excellent, Sasuke-kun. Your eyes show much potential, exceeding even that of your brother Itachi. For entertaining me today, I will give you a present." He watched the anger flas across the boy's face at the mention of his brother. Yes, he would be perfect.

Orochimaru extended his neck towards the paralyzed genin, twisting slightly to dodge a slow-moving kunai from the pink-haired annoyance. Then he bit down on the boy's neck, placing his latest and most powerful cursed seal on him.

His purpose completed, he retracted his neck and removed his false face. "When you desire more power, Sasuke-kun, come seek me out. My name is Orochimaru." And he melted into the tree branch and left.

"Sasuke-kun! Naruto!" Sakura saw both her teammates laying face-down on separate trees. She didn't know what to do; both were severely injured, and helping the wrong one first could very well result in the death on the other.

"S-sakura," her blonde teammate croaked out, slowly dragging himself up from his current position, "I'll... be all right. Go help... Sasuke-teme."

Relieved that the blue-eyed boy was conscious, she leapt to the Uchiha's side and ran a diagnostic jutsu. The med nin in training quickly found that he had multiple bruises and cuts, but the major source of his problems was the seal on his shoulder, which seemed to be actually altering his body chemistry.

"Naruto, the only major problem is a strange seal on his shoulder. Can you come take a look?" The blonde leapt over to her tree, a brief grimace of pain appearing on his face as his broken leg hit the branch. The observant kunoichi noticed. "What happened to your leg?"

"Broken," he answered tersely. The pink-haired genin, knowing that a broken bone was something she could deal with, went to his side. He sent some chakra through his pants leg to make the fabric recede and give her a clear view of the wound. It was far worse than she has expected, and as she worked on healing it, Naruto took a look at the seal on their other teammate's neck.

"Can't really tell anything with just a visual examination. I'd have to try a scanning jutsu, but the seal that snake-bastard put on me has fucked up my chakra control to hell. If I try a jutsu like this I'll probably explode and take half the forest with me." On hearing this, Sakura's face took on an expression halfway between surprise and disappointment.

"Is there anything I can do?" she asked.

"Actually, yeah, but we'll have to find somewhere safer first. If another team comes on us like this, we'll be out of the exam." And the two genin, the uninjured girl carrying their unconscious teammate, went to find a place to hide.

* * *

"Okay, these seals will keep us completely safe for about three hours." They had found a large tree in an open area surrounded by brush and more trees with a group of raised roots that offered a bit of shelter. Naruto had just finished placing four paper seals in a perfectly square formation around their location. "This area has effectively been removed from the normal flow of time and frozen at this point. Anyone outside will see it as being deserted. The only way they'll know anything's off is by a general feel of our chakra all throughout the area. I originally invented these to allow for large-scale battles or destructive training without permanently damaging the environment, but it works for protection as well."

Despite the gravity of the situation, Sakura could not help but be awed at her friend's brilliance, inventing a way to affect time with chakra-infused ink on paper. "So, what can I do to help?"

The blonde gave her a serious look. "You're going to have to undo the seal he put on me. To do that, you have to gather the proper amount of elemental chakra into each fingertip, one element per finger. Don't worry about moulding the chakra. I'll do that and transfer it to you. What you need to do is concentrate all of the chakra I give you into each fingertip, then hit me directly on the five points of the seal, forcing the chakra into them."

The pink-haired genin couldn't help but have doubts. "What happens if I mess up?"

He could see the worry and lack of confidence in her emerald eyes and assuaged her fears. "You won't. If I though you'd make a mistake, I wouldn't be asking you to do this. Anyways, I'll show you the seal now so you can practice to make sure you hit it properly." Naruto lifter his shirt to reveal both the Kyuubi seal and the Five Element seal on top of it. He had been working on molding the necessary chakra to give to Sakura ever since they left the site of the battle, so both seals were fully visible. The girl blushed lightly on seeing her teammate's perfectly-toned abs. "Your thumb strikes this point right here, and the rest should be easy enough to figure out."

She practiced hitting the proper points several times until she felt confident that it wouldn't be a problem, the blush on her face deepening as she felt the steel-like firmness of the muscles. The blonde grinned and said, jokingly, "You know I'm already taken, right?" On seeing her glare, and the hidden relief at the return of his joking attitude, he went on, "Whenever you're ready for the chakra, just let me know."

The two spent nearly a half hour channeling the elemental chakra into the kunoichi and making sure she had each element securely held in the proper fingertip. Then, in one swift motion, she slammed her hand into the seal as hard as she could and released the chakra. The burst of chakra sent Naruto flying back several yards, but even while airborne, he could feel the seal fading away and his chakra settling down.

"Thanks, Sakura; I feel a lot better now. I should probably take a look at Sasuke-teme's seal now."

"No need to say thank you, we are teammates after all. By the way, if I had messed up, what would have happened?"

As he performed the handseals for his scanning jutsu, the blonde casually answered, "Well, there's no way to know for sure, because seals are a really complicated art, but a mistake would almost definitely have resulted in my death."

The female member of team 7 stared at him, wide-eyed, "Death?! If I had messed up you would have died?! Why didn't you tell me?!"

"This kind of reaction is exactly why I didn't tell you. Had you known, you would have felt pressured to do everything perfectly, and then you _would_ have done something wrong, and I _would_ be dead. And I knew I could trust you because you're my teammate," he finished, answering her unasked question.

Several minutes passed in silence while Naruto examined the seal on the Uchiha's neck. When he finished, the news wasn't good. "This thing isn't so much a seal as it is a parasite being controlled by a seal. The parasite seeps into the host's chakra system and feeds off their chakra.

"It leaves behind as a waste product its own special brand of chakra. This special chakra is several times more potent than regular chakra, and so it grants a temporary increase in power to the host. The downside is that the normal human body just can't take chakra on that level, so the host's body starts to slowly eat away at its own chakra coils.

"What the seal does is to control the spread of the parasite so that the host can use it more as a highly self-damaging combat aid, as opposed to a disease that kills them quickly. But excessive use of the seal will still result in death for the host. The seal responds to feelings of strong hatred and rage, but its spread, and, consequently, the spread of the parasite, can be consciously controlled with work. Also, the extra-potent chakra that the parasite produces has a side effect of increased aggression levels, resulting in more of the kinds of emotions that activate the seal. It's the second most complicated seal I've ever seen, and there's something else that it does that I can't quite seem to figure out.

"And the worst part is that we can't do anything about it right now. The seal is currently active, working to suppress the parasite so it doesn't kill Sasuke right now. If we tried anything, the parasite would go free in his body and that would be the end. I'm estimating that it'll take about ten hours before he wakes up, so we're going to have to stay here for a while. Too much movement will lower his chances for survival, but if you keep checking on him regularly and healing any internal damage, he'll be okay."

Sakura stayed silent for several minutes while she absorbed the information and its implications. "All right, first we need to bring his fever down so he doesn't burn up. Get a wet cloth and put it on his forehead, I'll work on everything else. This is going to be a long night."

* * *

As the sun began to peek its rays into the dark forest, Sasuke's condition started improving. After his barrier had fallen late last night, Naruto had set up a perimeter of warning seals to let him know if anyone came close to their camp. Both ninja had forgone sleep to take care on their injured comrade and, in Sakura's case, it was beginning to tell. The blonde was about to suggest that she get some rest when he sensed someone cross the warning seals. Stretching out his chakra-sensing in the direction the disturbance had come from, he picked up the signatures of the three Oto genin, Orochimaru's underlings. Perfect; he had been hoping for something to take out his frustration on.

He snuck off towards the trio of ninja, leaving a kage bushin in his place. No need to worry Sakura with this.

On reaching them, he stayed hidden, observing his targets from the trees and coming up with a plan.

About thirty seconds later, the Sound ninjas saw a blonde boy with a Konoha forehead protector walk out of the forest in front of them, idly playing with a pair of humongous swords. "Hey there. Why don't you three stop a minute and tell me where you're going? You see, my camp is near here and I've got an injured teammate who needs rest, but then again, you'd know all about that from Orochimaru, right?"

Naruto used their half-second of shock to make his move. He was right in the middle of the group before they even knew what was happening; a couple quick swings with the flats of his blades sent each genin flying into the waiting arms of a kage bushin, who held them just short of tight enough to break bones.

"Now, we're going to talk, and you're going to tell me everything you know about the snake-bastard and what his plans are." His blue eyes had lost their usual warmth and might as wll have been chips of ice.

About fifteen minutes later, he was finishing up with the three, having already extracted any useful information, as well as their heaven scroll. "Okay, now I'm not the kind of person who believes in killing a helpless person, even if they are an enemy nin, so I'm gonna-" He stopped suddenly on feeling a burst of vile chakra from the direction of the camp. The next instant, the memories of the kage bushin he had left there flooded through him. He was out of their sight in under a second.

"Sa-sasuke-kun, you need to settle down, you're hurting yourself." He heard Sakura's voice before he even came in sight of the camp.

"I don't care about that right now. Where's the dobe? I want to fight him." Half of the Uchiha's body was covered in black flame-like markings, and dark purple chakra was flowing out of him in massive quantities.

"I'm over here, teme!" shouted the blonde, leaping into the open area of forest. "But Sakura's right, you need to calm down. That power you feel is actually slowly killing you from the inside-"

He was interrupted when Sasuke rushed towards him amazingly quickly. Naruto was just barely able to dodge the punch to his gut and was forced to block the following kick to his head. But instead of just blocking, he grabbed the Uchiha's leg tightly in his hands. "Stop this right now or I'll break your leg. If you want to fight, I'll be happy to beat you up later, but we've got an exam to finish right now." His stern blue eyes stared into the red of his teammate's sharingan, and without even thinking about what he was doing, he began using his shinkagan to send calming feelings into the other boy.

The black marks and tainted chakra receded as Sasuke came to his senses. "Much better. Now, as soon as you're up to it, we'll head straight for the tower." And with that dealt with, Naruto turned to a clump of bushes. "You guys can come out, you know." The other two members of team 7 simultaneously reached for their kunai pouches, before taking note of the blonde's friendly tone of voice and wide grin.

Out of the bushes came Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji. "Should've known you'd notice us. Troublesome."

The others all laughed at the lazy Nara. Then the blonde spoke up again, "Hey, do you guys need a heaven scroll? I've got an extra here from a group of idiots I just came from dealing with."

Ino looked up at him. "A heaven scroll? Perfect! Thanks, Naruto!"

As he tossed the spare scroll to team 10, Chouji mumbled something about food. About five seconds later, a freshly-unsealed bag of his favorite chips flew straight into his arms. "Yeah -munch- thanks -munch-"

"It's troublesome, but we should probably all stick together for the rest of the way. The other teams will probably think twice about attacking a group of six"

Sakura nodded her agreement. "Good thinking, Shikamaru. Especially since we need to get to the tower as soon as possible. Something happened that we need to tell Hokage-sama right away."

Meanwhile, Sasuke was sitting on the ground staring at himself, as though wondering what had just happened. Naruto, sensing his troubled feelings, went over to him. "I'll let you know what happened as soon as this exam is over."

And with that, the six genin went through the rest of the forest with no further incident.


	25. Chapter 25

**chapter 25**

**conversations**

After explaining just what the cursed seal did to him, it hadn't taken much persuasion to convince Sasuke to let the Sandaime, who had been waiting for them at the tower, put a suppression seal on it.

While that was going on, Kakashi drew his blonde student aside. "We got your message. Kabuto being a spy came as a huge surprise to us, but he's somewhere in the middle of the forest right now, so we can't really do anything. Now, I want to know everything that happened in there."

Naruto gave a summarized description of team 7's time in the Forest of Death, making sure to include all the important details, as well as all the information he had learned by interrogating the Sound genin. The only new information was that Orochimaru was planning an invasion of Konoha sometime during the exams, but they weren't important enough to know any specifics.

After giving his report, he had a question. "Kakashi-sensei, what's going to be done?"

"Good question. Well, Orochimaru has made it clear that if we interfere with the exam in any way, bad things will happen, and we don't know enough of his plans yet to do anything about them. Currently, we have two options: we can interrogate Kabuto, or we can watch him. While the first has the potential to get us more information, it is also not very likely to succeed, as experienced med nins can commit suicide quite easily after capture. That reminds me, I'll definitely need to find Sakura a new instructor."

Naruto was surprised. "Wait, he was the one teaching her healing jutsu?! What were you thinking?!"

The grey-haired jonin gave one of his lazy eye-smiles. "Well, before now, we had no reason to suspect him of anything, and he is the adopted son of the head of Konoha's medical program."

There were a few seconds of silence as the blonde digested this information and decided on his next question. "Umm, sensei, I was curious, what teams have passed so far besides us and team 10, and what are we supposed to do for the next four days?"

"Well, to answer your second question first, there are rooms here to sleep in, as well as training areas, and a cafeteria. The examinees can do whatever they want except leaving the tower and trying to kill each other. As for the teams that passed, all of your graduating class that made genin are here, as well as a team from Suna, one from Ame that, interestingly enough, has two kunoichi, and another Konoha team a year above you guys."

It didn't take much thought to figure out who the other teams were. "Thanks, Kakashi-sensei! If you don't need anything else, I'm gonna get going now."

He shook his head. "No, that's all. You're dismissed."

And Naruto went off to explore the tower.

* * *

It didn't take long before he ran into someone. Specifically, Gaara. The Suna redhead saw him and stopped in the middle of the hallway. His bright green eyes stared at the orange-clad genin intently, and a killing intent that made the passing chunins freeze and tremble in fear filled the passage. Naruto stood there, unfazed, staring right back. "Do you want something?"

"I will kill you, Uzumaki Naruto."

"No you won't." As if to prove his point, he unleashed his own killing intent, raising it to slightly surpass Gaara's.

The Ichibi jinchuriki broke away from the piercing blue eyes and continued down the hall, the killing intent dissipating in his wake.

One of the chunins turned to whisper to his friend. "W-what the hell was that?"

Thanks to his advanced hearing, Naruto heard the man clearly and decided to answer him. "Konoha isn't the only hidden village to seal demons into kids and treat them like shit, apparently." And with that, he too walked away, leaving the two chunin to think over his words.

* * *

When the blonde found Hinata-chan, she was in the cafeteria eating lunch with Kiba and Shino. He crept up on the pale-eyed girl in an exaggerated fashion, hoping her teammares wouldn't betray his presence. Fortunately for him, Shino was his usual outwardly expressionless self, and Kiba and Akamaru proved themselves capable of holding back their mirth temporarily.

He put his hands over the Hyuuga's eyes, knowing full well that the gesture, and even the sneaking, would be pointless if her byakugan were active. "Guess who?"

Apparently, she was in a teasing mood. "Hmm... Ino?"

He grinned from his position kneeled down behind her. "Nope, but the hair and eye color are close."

"Oh, then it must be Naruto-kun!" He removed his hands as she turned around and kissed him right on the mouth. Akamaru and Kiba burst out into barking and laughter respectively, while Shino just raised his eyebrows.

When the two finally broke apart, she was the first to speak. "When did you get here? What happened? Are you all right? I would have thought your team would have gotten here on the first day."

"Whoa, slow down, Hinata-chan! One question at a time! Going out of order, yes, thirty minutes ago, we ran into trouble."

Kiba decided to make himself heard. "Oh yeah, speaking of trouble, thanks for the warning, man. We probably wouldn't be here now if it weren't for that."

The blonde became serious temporarily. "What happened?" he asked, echoing the earlier question of the girl now hanging on to his arm.

Shino chose to speak for his team. "We trailed the Suna team for twenty three minutes. Had it not been for your advice, we would likely have attacked. After those twenty three minutes, they met up with an older team from Ame. The red-haired boy seems to have chakra-infused sand in his gourd that automatically protects him from all attacks. After proving that his opponents were unable to harm him, he surrounded one of them in sand and crushed him. The remaining two genin gave up their scroll, which the Suna team did not need. Then the red-haired boy crushed them with his sand as well."

A disgusted expression crossed Naruto's face. "That kid has some _serious _mental problems. But enough about that, let's eat! Do they have ramen?" In an instant, he had reverted to his usual childish, energetic, ramen-addicted self.

* * *

It turned out they did have ramen. One hundred thirty three bowls later (he was hungry), the blonde was off exploring again, hoping to find the girl from Ame who had been drawing pictures during the first exam. Amazing how someone so loud could be so hard to find.

Unfortunately, someone else found him before he found her. "Naruto-kun! Your flames of youth are burning brightly this day! Would you agree to a friendly spar with me during our springtime of youth?!"

Seeing Lee, he broke out into a wide grin. A spar would be fun indeed. After accepting, the two genin headed off to the nearest training room.

"We should probably keep it light, Fuzzy-brows. After all, we wouldn't want any bad injuries with the third exam coming up."

"Yosh! Good thinking, Naruto-kun. However, you proved during our last fight that I cannot defeat you with a handicap, so out of respect to your youthfulness, I will remove my weights." Saying this, he reached down and pulled up his orange leg-warmers, revealing large metal weights wrapped around his ankles.

When the blonde saw the sizable craters they made on falling to the floor, he grinned. "This'll be fun! I should probably deactivate my own weights, too." A moment of concentration later, his body felt lighter than air. "All right, let's go!" And the two genin became blurs of orange and green.

Naruto stayed mostly on the defensive, using his high reaction time to counter his opponent's attacks. When he did attack, he made sure to hold back to keep from causing serious injury to his large-eyebrowed friend.

Lee pressed his advantage in skill for all it was worth, sliding in under the blonde's defenses to deliver strong blows to his chest and stomach. When the younger genin went on the offensive, he concentrated on dodging; even when blocked, the blows had enough strength behind them to be quite painful.

"Naruto-kun, how is it that you have such impressive speed and strength, yet your taijutsu is so...lacking?" asked Lee, while throwing a flurry of punches towards his opponent's chest.

The orange-clad genin dropped to the floor and tried a leg sweep at the other boy's feet. When he jumped, Naruto used his other leg to launch himself into the air and changing the leg sweep into a kick to the stomach. "Not rally sure. My body can't seem to adapt to any sort of style, and I've tried every one I could get my hands on. So I settle for just working on speed and strength and fighting by instinct."

Lee landed on his feet several yards away and dashed back in. "That seems strange, but I can confess that your way of fighting is quite effective. It allows for you to be completely unpredictable and to do things your opponents will not expect, like that last hit."

They continued like this for fifteen minutes, trading blows and light conversation, until the green-clad genin was out of breath. "Thank you for the spar, Naruto-kun."

"No problem. It was fun." The blonde smiled at his friend, before both went their separate ways.

* * *

"OI! Mister 'I'm not gonna lose to anyone!' Yeah, I'm talking to you, can you hear me?!"

He had finally found the loud kunoichi. Or more precisely, she had found him.

He turned to face the approaching girl. "Of course I hear you. People in Kumo can probably hear you."

"Hey! You were louder than me during our shouting match!"

"SO?! I can at least talk at a normal volume!"

"HEY! JUST BECAUSE I CHOOSE NOT TO DOESN'T MEAN I CAN'T"

"OH YEAH?! THEN WHY DON'T YOU?!"

"BECAUSE THIS IS SO MUCH MORE FUN!"

"I'M NOT SURE I BELIEVE YOU!! PROVE IT!!"

"There. Happy now?"

"YE- yeah. Actually, you're right. That was kind of fun." A small smile spread across Naruto's face on realizing just what had been going on, and it soon broke out into full-blown laughter, which the kunoichi soon joined in on.

Once both had settled down, the blonde spoke. "You know, I'm kind of at a disadvantage here. I mean, you know my name, but I don't know yours."

The hazel-eyed girl scratched the back of her neck sheepishly. "Oh, I'm Haruhi. But if you want, you can call me Haru-chan, Naru-kun."

He frowned. "I have a girlfriend."

She looked embarrassed. "Oh, I didn't mean like that. I just figured we could be good friends."

"All right. That's fine with me, Haru-chan. How did the exam go for you?" She seemed to be a genuinely nice person, even if there were several questions he had about her, not the least of which were the excitement he saw in her eyes whenever she looked at him and the drawing of the two of them on her paper test.

"Oh, it was all right. My regular teammates... aren't here, so I had to be paired with a bastard and bitch who required some, um, convincing, to keep from doing stupid stuff, but we made it through quickly. How about you?" Sadness and anger raged through her when she mentioned her normal teammates.

The blonde decided on an honest but ambiguous answer. "It didn't go so well for us. There were some complications when a snake bit my teammate."

Surprisingly enough, she let out a burst of killing intent at the reference to Orochimaru, showing that she had somehow understood what he meant and making him even more confused. "Anyway, I need to get back to my teammates before they go kill someone. It was nice to meet you properly, Naru-kun."

As she walked past, she slipped a piece of paper into his hand. Naruto pretended nothing had happened as he casually headed to his room. On arriving there, he checked to make sure he was completely alone and that the place was secure before looking at the paper.

It was blank. Examining it closer, however, he felt a slight current of chakra running through it. Channeling a bit of his own chakra into the paper, a message appeared, written in letters of chakra:

"_Meet tonight midnight tower roof. Let no one know._"

Less than a second later, the paper burned to ash.

* * *

Naruto found slipping out of the tower fairly difficult, ironically enough because of the increased security his own information had caused. Had stealth not been one of his specialties, he doubted he would have made it. He made sure to leave a kage bushin in his bed in case anyone checked on him.

Arriving at the top of the tower dressed in all black, everything but his blue eyes covered, he saw her waiting for him, clothed similarly.

Haruhi immediately got down to business, talking in a quiet whisper. "Glad you could make it, Naru-kun. I'm sure there's lots of stuff you want to know from me, so start asking and I'll answer what I can."

He wasn't quite sure where to start, so he chose the most recent question. "How did you know I was talking about Orochimaru earlier today?"

"We knew that bastard was here and interested in your teammate, and about the cursed seal, seeing as our _master_," she spat the word as though it were a vile curse, and the anger and hatred flowing through her was intense, "practically invented the thing."

Now the blonde's interest was really piqued. "Master?"

"His name, his real name, is Kazama Arashi. I'm not from Ame, nor are my teammates, it was just the easiest place to set up identities from, since some of his people are pretty powerful there. You know who he is. He's using this exam to set up a... test for you and the Suna boy, so he can estimate how powerful you'll both be when it's time to come after you."

It didn't take much thought to figure out the only person who could be so powerful, cause so much hate in someone, and had an interest in himself and Gaara. Naruto barely had the sense to keep his killing intent in check at the thought of that man... Kazama Arashi. It was much better having a name for him.

"What did he do to you?"

"Oh, not much. Just killed my dad, aunt, brothers, and the rest of my clan, made my cousin's life a living hell, and put my mom under an extremely powerful mind-control jutsu."

"Yup, that sounds like the bastard, all right. So, just what kind of test does he have planned for us?"

"Well, apparently, the next exam consists of one-on-one matches, and he's going to manipulate it so that you guys fight two of us. Sandy will have to kill Hikaru, that black-haired whore. And you'll be up against me and Sora at different points throughout the exam. Please do me a favor and make sure the bastard dies."

The mention of one-on-one fights reminded him of her drawings. "By the way, I saw what you did for the first exam. What was that about."

In an instant, her emotions changed from barely-restrained anger to pride. "The most fundamental teaching of my clan is to find the joy in a good battle against an equal. Have you ever experienced it, Naru-kun? The sheer excitement and happiness of not knowing, or even caring how it turns out, just enjoying the chance to push yourself to your limits and beyond against someone else who pushes back just as hard? There's nothing else in the world quite like it.

"I still remember all the fights with my brothers and friends, and even sometimes enemies. Those drawings were from those fights. All my life, I've been unnaturally talented at figuring out the power levels of others with a good bit of observation, in fact, I think it might be some kind of new bloodline limit. And you and I are perfect equals in overall fighting ability. Perfect equals. Hell, we're even near-identical in personality. So when we fight, it's going to be the most amazing experience of my life. And that's why I'm going to ignore that I'm doing what that bastard wants and fight you as a friend, with a smile on my face. I hope you can do the same."

As she talked, the rush of emotions flowing through her was so strong as to almost be overpowering to the blonde. Thinking back to his own life and the battles he had been in, he couldn't help but agree with her. "Sure thing, Haru-can. Let's make that last picture of yours into a reality. We'll have a good fight of friends and equals, holding nothing back. But let's be sure to end it without death. I wouldn't want to kill such a great friend." He grinned and chuckled quietly at this last statement.

In response, mirth shone in her hazel eyes, and she couldn't resist teasing him. "Oh? You certainly sound pretty confident of yourself, Naru-kun."

"Of course. I already said I wouldn't lose to anyone in this exam, and I never take back my words, that's my way of the ninja."

"Then what about that snake back in the forest?"

"Oh, that? That um... er... uh... That doesn't count as a fight. I threw myself in knowing I had no chance in the hopes that Sakura and Sasuke-teme could get away. Didn't work, but it's the thought that counts, right?"

"Heh, I guess. Anyway, we should probably be getting back. Oh, by the way, how the hell did you manage to spy on me during the first exam?"

Now it was Naruto's turn to tease. "No way. If we're that equal, there's no way I'm gonna tell you my secrets. Night, Haru-chan." And with that, both snuck back into the tower and returned to their rooms, where they soon fell asleep, still thinking about their talk.

* * *

Naruto woke up, fully refreshed, after five hours of sleep. Because of the Kyuubi, he only needed half as much sleep as an ordinary person to get the same effect. On waking, he went down to one of the training rooms and did some light training for a couple hours until other people started to wake up. At that point, his sensitive nose and grumbling stomach forced him to the cafeteria, where they unfortunately did not have ramen for breakfast.

While there, he saw Ino, and the two struck up a conversation. "Hey, Ino. Good morning."

The blonde kunoichi looked up from her carefully-selected food. "Oh, hello, Naruto. Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, thanks for asking. I've been up for an hour or two now, though, and I just came from my morning training." He walked over to the buffet and started picking out his breakfast.

She was surprised. "Morning training? During the middle of the Chunin Exams? Isn't that a bit... much?"

The whisker-marked boy grinned at her. "Nothing too serious. Besides, we've still got three days left till the end of the second exam. I'm not going to get stronger by wasting that time sitting around doing nothing."

"I see your point. I only wish Shikamaru and Chouji were as motivated as you are." She sighed at the thought of her lazy and overweight, respectively, teammates.

"Oh, don't worry about them. Shika may spend most of his time cloud-gazing, but he's got enough sense to make sure his skills stay up to par. And I've seen Chouji training a lot; he just prefers to do it alone. Probably to be sure no one can make fun of him." He sat down across from her with a plate carrying far too much food.

"You know, Naruto, for someone so concerned about always being at your best physically, you sure don't eat very well. All that ramen can't be good for you." Looking more closely at what he had picked out, Ino noticed that it was, in fact, fairly healthy food, though the amount was several times larger than what a person should eat.

"Hethhhh, don' inthult rahen!" he retorted through a mouthful of food, before swallowing. "Really, though, don't worry about it. I have an abnormally fast metabolism. Also, Ichiraku-ojisan gives me his special 'health ramen' that he invented just for me. It has all the nutrients and calories I need in one bowl, and it's delicious, too."

"Yet you still manage to have twenty bowls of the stuff every time we all go out to eat there. Not to mention how much meat you eat whenever we go for barbecue." She smiled at him.

Naruto grinned and scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "What can I say? I love the stuff, and like I said before, my metabolism is unnaturally fast. As for the meat, lots of protein is needed for building muscles. How else d'you think I got these?" He pulled up his shirt sleeve and flexed his biceps, the girl across from him blushing involuntarily at the muscle's size and tone.

"You know, _Naruto-kun_, if Hinata saw you without a shirt on, she'd probably die of a nosebleed." Both broke out into laughter at the mental image.

When they settled down, the two blondes resumed talking, interspersing their comments with bites of food, or sometimes in the boy's case speaking while he ate.

* * *

On returning to his room, Naruto found Sasuke sitting in his bed, his face in its normal "thoughtful" expression.

"Hey, teme, how're you doing?"

"Better than yesterday, dobe."

"Good, I'm glad."

When the Uchiha stayed silent, he took it as his cue to speak again. "You know, if you still want to have a spar, I'd be up to it."

The dark-haired boy stayed silent for several moments, as though debating something internally.

Finally, he spoke, slowly and hesitantly. "Naruto... Thank... Thank you."

Blue eyes stared into black. "What for?" He could have been asking what he had done that merited the thanks or which of the many things he had done he was being thanked for. Naruto himself wasn't quite sure which of the two he meant.

"For... for everything. Saving my life back in the forest, warning me about the seal, and... and being my friend, my closest friend."

The blonde could tell that his teammate was feeling sad, shameful, and guilty, and close to tears as he talked. "No problem. Friends are there to help each other, after all."

The Uchiha's mood brightened, and he even cracked a small smile. "Heh. So dobe, is that offer of a spar still open?"

Naruto smiled back. "Sure. Let's head downstairs."

* * *

The following days all mixed together in the blonde's mind. He spent his time being with his friends and training, trying to relax for the break they had earned between the exams. On the fourth day, Kabuto's team arrived, and he made sure to avoid the glasses-wearing traitor as much as possible.

Then finally, the morning of the last day of the exam, the Oto genin came to the tower. Wen they saw Naruto, he gave them a predatory smile, and all three cringed in fear, remembering just what he had done to them in the forest.

A couple hours later, there was a call for all the genin to assemble in the main room. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke walked in together as a team, feeling prepared for whatever was to come.


	26. Chapter 26

**chapter 26**

**preliminaries start**

The twenty four genin were lined up by teams in front of the Hokage, their respective jonin senseis, and the examiners. Standing at one side were Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke, next to them stood team 8, with Kiba in front followed by Hinata, and team 10 was next to them, with Ino first and Shikamaru bringing up the rear. Team Gai was to their rights, Lee first followed by Tenten then Neji. They had the displeasure of being next to Gaara's team, though the murderous atmosphere surrounding the redhead did not effect the youthful Lee, even though Temari was looking terrified right behind him. After them was the recently-arrived Oto team, and Kabuto and his genin teammates stood to their rights. Finally, on the far right, was Haruhi, with Sora standing behind her and Hikaru behind him.

Looking up at the assorted jonin, Naruto saw through the partial henge on Orochimaru, disguised as the Oto jonin. And even without looking, he could identify that the jonin for the Ame team was none other than Arashi himself. The feeling that man gave out was entirely unmistakable. Team 7's blonde genin gave the man a look that clearly he would kill himself, and the fox along with him, if the man tried anything. The insane man was heavily disguised, oddly enough, using hair dye, contact lenses, and lots of makeup. He was wearing a heavy green coat, and his hair, now multicolored, was cut short. Overall, he looked like some kind of evil clown.

The Sandaime stepped forward and began to explain about the true purpose of the Chunin Exams – to serve as a replacement for war between the ninja nations. It was a brilliant idea, but Naruto could see in the old man's eyes that he knew it didn't work as well as it should have. His mind was probably on the impending invasion the blonde had discovered while torturing the Oto genin. They didn't know enough about it yet.

After the aged Hokage finished, the examiner for the next section of the exams, Gekkou Hayate, the village's leading swordmaster, who was unfortunately afflicted with a chronic cough, explained what would happen. "Well, I'd like to -cough- get to the next part of the -cough- exam. But there's a problem. It seems -cough- that we have too many -cough- people. So we're going to have to -cough- hold a preliminary round to lower the number of contestants. These preliminaries will -cough- consist of one-on-one fights -cough- between two contestants randomly selected by that board. Anyone who wants to drop out may -cough- do so now."

None of the twenty four genin raised their hands. "Very well. -cough- The fights will end when the opponent is unconscious, dead, or unable to move. You -cough- can also forfeit during your fight, and it will end immediately if -cough- I call it. Now, let us select the first match."

Thirty six pairs of eyes turned to the large electronic board up on the wall as the names of the genin began to flash by too fast to read. As the board was choosing the first two contestants, Naruto noticed a chakra that he could only classify as evil. It was so subtle that he was sure he would have missed it were it not for his close connection to the only man in the room the evil chakra could have belonged to. Glancing at the Sandaime, he saw that even the old man himself had not managed to sense it. The evil chakra was moving to the electronic board, and deducing its purpose wasn't hard. So that was how that bastard would manipulate the matches!

The board finally stopped on two names, and the evil chakra dissipated. "Will -cough- everyone but Akimichi Chouji and -cough- Tsuchi Kin please move to the balcony?"

The blonde boy sighed mentally as he walked up the stairs with his team. His friend had gotten a bad matchup: Kin was solely a long-range fighter, while Chouji was short-range only. If he didn't find some way to trap her, she would just stay away and wear him down.

Once only the two fighters and Hayate were left on the floor, he raised his hand. "First match: Akimichi Chouji versus Tsuchi Kin, begin!"

The large boy immediately rushed forward as the kunoichi leapt away and threw several senbon. Up in the balcony, team 7 was having a discussion as they watched the match.

"So, Chouji, huh? I hope he wins; Oto is the village that's after Sasuke-kun, right?" asked Sakura.

Said Uchiha was the one to answer. "I doubt he will. He's too slow to stand a chance against that girl."

It was left to the orange-loving boy to stand up for his friend. "Don't count Chouji out do quickly. He's a decent ninja, and his opponent is being a bit overconfident.

Unfortunately, Lee and his teammates were nearby. "YOSH! Your praise for Chouji-kun is surely fanning his flames of youth!"

As the other five genin looked at the boy as though he were from a different planet, the older version of him came up behind Kakashi. "Kakashi, my eternal rival! Let us make a challenge of this match! If Chouji does not win, I will run around Konoha 10,000 times on my fingertips!"

The grey-haired jonin turned slowly to face the taijutsu master. "Huh? Did you say something, Gai?"

"THAT IS SO HIP, KAKASHI!"

Ignoring the overly loud man behind them, Naruto and his friends returned their attention to the fight.

Chouji had started off by attempting to engage his opponent in taijutsu, and she had responded by throwing several senbon at him. The Akimichi, once he was sure the weapons would not hit any vital points, simply ignored them and kept on coming, his sheer bulk keeping them from causing any real damage.

Kin then proceeded to throw even more senbon hastily in the direction of the large boy. She was clearly in a rush, however, as nearly half of the weapons missed their target completely. By this time, she had backed up against the wall and had nowhere else to run, and her opponent was closing in.

Chouji threw a powerful punch, prepared to end the fight in a single blow, but the Oto genin had other ideas. A last-second kawarimi with one of her scattered senbon had her out of harm's way. Unfortunately for the boy, the senbon had ended up right between his fist and the wall.

The force of the punch was enough to make a small crater in the wall and break the tiny weapon in half, but at the same time, it embedded half of the senbon deep in between the boy's first two knuckles, causing him to scream in pain. Not thirty seconds into the fight, and Chouji's right hand was severely weakened.

Deciding on a change of tactics, he began to run through the seals for one of his family jutsu, his hands moving much more slowly than usual due to the piece of metal inside the flesh of his right hand. Kin took the opportunity to aim more senbon at him, most of which he dodged and left quivering in the wall behind him. The ones that did manage to hit were mere annoyances.

"**Baika no Jutsu"**

"**Nikudan Sensha"**

As the spinning mass of Konoha genin came at her, Kin, oddly enough, smirked, even though the senbon she was throwing were being deflected by the rotational speeds. She ran about the room, staying just barely ahead of him, until she had led the boy right back to the wall he had started by.

When the kunoichi leapt high out of the way, he was unable to stop himself in time and smashed into the crater he had made earlier, enlarging it significantly. While temporarily dazed from the combination of the impact and rapid spinning, Chouji's brain was invaded by the sound of ringing bells.

The effect was immediate. The large boy felt wobbly and off-balance as his opponent seemed to split into several. It was clearly a genjutsu, but it was one he knew he wouldn't be able to break in time. He started running through his options. Taijutsu was out, thanks mostly to the illusion. He wouldn't be able to make seals fast enough with his injured hand to perform any more ninjutsu. He didn't know any genjutsu besides bushin and the basic henge, both of which would be useless here. All this left him with only one option...

Kin was getting tired of this. She had been humiliated by that blonde monster back in the forest and forced to reveal Orochimaru-sama's plans, and she wasn't in a good mood. The Oto kunoichi had just decided to end the fight and her foe's life with a few needles to his neck when the fatty raised his hand. "I give up." Oh fuck no! She was not about to let it end like this! She wanted the joy of the kill, and nothing would deprive her of that! She angrily flung her senbon at the boy's neck, but they never made it, as they were intercepted by an equal number of senbon from the direction of the door.

Up above, Naruto turned to face the new arrival in the room. On the inside, he was furious and wished he had caused the girl permanent damage when he had had the chance. But an angry outburst would do no good, so he grinned. "Glad you could come to watch, Haku!" The brown-eyed boy had come in during the middle of the fight. Being a senbon user himself, he was the first to notice that the kunoichi was still going to throw, and had intercepted her weapons with several of his own.

Chouji had just finished processing that the boy had likely saved his life. "Thank you, Haku."

"You're welcome, Chouji-kun," he responded while walking up the steps to stand with team 7.

Hayate made his presence known with a slight cough. "Winner: Tsuchi Kin."

"What?! How can you let that stupid slut win? She attacked Chouji after he forfeited!" This loud outburst came, surprisingly, from Ino.

The examiner turned to face her. "Please do not worry, Ino-san. The matter will be -cough- dealt with." He turned to the Oto genin with a stern look on his face. "Tsuchi Kin, did you aim that final attack -cough- at your opponent with the knowledge that he had already given up, or were you -cough- simply not able to stop yourself in time? Think carefully, because -cough- if it is the former, you will be disqualified immediately for attacking a fellow examinee with intent to kill outside of an approved time."

Kin was worried. She wouldn't be able to pull off a lie, not here with all these skilled ninja watching her. And that blonde boy...

Help came to her from an entirely unexpected source. "Ah, settle down now, examiner-san. I am sure the cute girl was just so caught up in the lust for battle that she could not help herself. It has happened to me many times in the past." The speaker was none other than the disguised Kazama Arashi.

The moment he spoke, two powerful killing intents were directed straight at him. Naturally, the man brushed them off as though they were nonexistent, but everyone else was wondering what could possibly make a student hate her sensei so much, and Naruto's team was staring at him strangely.

"Naruto?" his one-eyed jonin sensei asked in a voice little above a whisper.

The blonde's answer was short and to the point. "It's _him_." Kakashi stared at his student a moment more before turning his gaze to look closely at the supposed Ame jonin across the room. He gasped as recognition struck. "_Don't _try anything. If he wanted anyone here dead, they would be. And he'll kill you without a second though if you give him a reason to," Naruto continued before his sensei did something stupid.

Sakura and Sasuke turned to their teammate confusedly. "W-who do you mean?" asked the pink-haired girl.

His blue eyes were col and hard as he talked, never leaving the man across the way. "The most dangerous person in existence. He's an insane power-hungry bastard fucking piece of shit who kills people because he feels like it, including both my parents, and made my life hell. And unfortunately, he's more powerful than all five kages combined. He's the one I said I'd kill someday"

They both remembered what he had said the day of team meetings, and while they knew there was more to the story, they chose to give their friend his privacy. "Good luck with that, dobe."

"Luck's got nothing to do with it, but thanks anyway, teme."

Down in the arena, Hayate had come to a decision. "Very well, she will not be punished. But any further infractions on the rules will result in her -cough- immediate disqualification. Now, let us -cough- move on to the next fight."

The board spun again, and this time the names were Akado Yoroi and Rock Lee.

"YOSH! GAI-SENSEI, I MUST BE ENJOYING MY SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH GREATLY TO HAVE THE HONOR OF THE SECOND MATCH!"

"VERY GOOD LEE. LET YOUR YOUTHFUL SPIRIT LEAD YOU TO VICTORY IN YOUR UPCOMING MATCH!"

Several minutes later, the shouting had stopped, and the two fighters were on the floor. "Second match: Akado Yoroi versus Rock Lee, begin!"

The moment the announcement was made, the green-clad genin sprang into action. He dashed at his opponent at speeds the other nin could barely see and delivered a powerful spinning kick to his chest that sent him flying into the wall.

"Yeah! Go Fuzzy-brows! Kick his ass!" Naruto shouted from up above. It looked like this guy stood no chance against Lee.

That was when it happened, though. When Lee went in for a punch to Yoroi's stomach, the man's hand intercepted his own. There was a blue glow around the joined hands as he forcefully sucked the chakra from the young genin's body, and the boy let out a scream of pain. "AGGGHHH!!" There was some sort of miniature explosion of chakra, and the spandex-wearing ninja was sent flying across the arena.

In the balcony, team 7 and the boy's teammates turned to Gai for an explanation as to what had just happened, as the jonin looked on in worry. "That man is pulling the chakra from Lee's body. For most ninja, this would not be a painful process, but Lee had a birth defect where his tenketsu never fully formed. As such, the man is unintentionally tearing the tenketsu open as he draws out Lee's chakra."

Memories flashed through Naruto's mind of the time when Iruka-oniisan had first had him attempt to control his chakra. What his friend was going through right now was similar to when the blonde had completely overloaded his own chakra system and blasted it to pieces, even if on a much smaller scale. He did not envy the large-eyebrowed boy the pain he must be feeling.

"Oho, it seems you don't like having your chakra sucked, do you? Well then, try this on for size!" Kabuto's teammate ran through handseals and built up a huge amount of chakra as his opponent recovered.

"**Tajuu Chakra Suitoru no Jutsu"** (mass chakra absorbing technique)

He slammed his hand into the ground, and a wave of chakra shot out across the floor. When it reached Lee, there was another, much larger, explosion, as his tenketsu were torn open. This time, he wasn't sent flying anywhere though, because the force was equal from all directions.

All the taijutsu users friends looked on in shock and worry as the dust of destroyed floor tiles settled. The sight they saw left most of the audience gasping.

Lee was down on his hands and knees in a large crater, breathing heavily. His green spandex had been torn to shreds, leaving his well-muscled body almost completely bare to the onlookers, resulting in blushes amongst the female genin. But most amazing of all was that he was smiling.

The young genin slowly, painfully, made his way to his feet as his opponent just stood there staring in amazement. Still panting, he slowly, clumsily, ran through a short string of handseals, as though he had to consciously remind himself of how to make them.

"**Bushin no Jutsu"**

In a puff of smoke, a replica of the boy appeared next to him. It was a pale, sickly replica that almost immediately dispersed, but it was a replica. Lee's smile widened. "Thank you... ...Yoroi-san for... ...opening up my tenketsu... ...and allowing me to use... jutsu for the first time in my life... ...But even though I now owe you a great debt... ...I cannot allow myself to lose to you, as it would violate my way of the ninja." And with that said, he leapt forth to resume the fight.

Gai was weeping tears of happiness for his favorite student. "Oh, Lee! I am so proud of you to finally gain the use of jutsu for the first time in your life! And even more proud that you are still just as devoted to proving your way of the ninja, that one can become great with only taijutsu!"

Naruto was smiling again. "Woohoo! You rule, Fuzzy-brows! Beat him up!"

And the young genin was doing exactly that. Now that all his tenketsu had already been ripped open, Yoroi's attempts to absorb his chakra were little more than annoyances. After all, a majority of his strength came directly from his muscles, so the loss of a little chakra didn't have any adverse effects.

In fact, he was knocking his opponent around so much that he didn't really have a chance to use his chakra absorption technique in the first place. Kicking, punching, palm thrusts, chops, throws, Lee was attacking nonstop for several minutes before he finally let the older ninja fall to the ground, multiple bones broken and his entire body bruised.

Seeing the man unable to move, Hayate called the match. "Winner: Rock Lee."

"AWESOME! GREAT JOB, FUZZY-BROWS!" shouted team 7's loudest member.

"YEAH, GREAT WORK, BOWL-CUT KID!" The next instant, Naruto and Haruhi (who had been the source of the second shout) were glaring at each other across the room.

"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING CHEERING HIM, HARU-CHAN?! YOU'VE NEVER EVEN SPOKEN TO FUZZY-BROWS!"

"I CAN CONGRADULATE WHOEVER I WANT ON A GOOD FIGHT! SO SHUT THE HELL UP, NARU-KUN!"

"OH YEAH?! WHY DON'T YOU COME OVER HERE AND MAKE ME?!"

"OH DON'T WORRY! WHEN IT COMES TIME FOR US TO FIGHT, I'LL SHUT YOU UP ALL RIGHT!"

"LIKE HELL YOU WILL, BITCH! I'LL BEAT YOU SO BAD YOU'LL BE THANKING ME FOR THE ASS-WHOOPING!"

Everyone present was staring at the two genin arguing at deafening volume, all but two with their hands over their ears and their faces in expressions of horror. The two Green Beasts of Konoha looked on with smiles so bright that they glinted in the nonexistent sunlight. "YOSH! YOU TWO ARE WONDERFULLY ENJOYING YOUR RIVALRY IN YOUR SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH! WHAT A BEAUTIFUL, YOUTHFUL SIGHT! LEE! COME HERE TO BASK IN THEIR YOUTHFUL GLOW WITH ME! AND I HAVE AN EXTRA SUPER-YOUTHFUL WONDERFULLY GREEN BODYSUIT FOR YOU!"

"YOSH! THANK YOU, GAI-SENSEI! YOU ARE TRULY WONDERFUL! LET US BASK IN THEIR YOUTHFULNESS TOGETHER!" He sprang up next to his sensei.

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI"

Everyone who had seen this terrible event before turned away as fast as they could, with Naruto frantically gesturing to Haruhi and teams 7 and 10 to do the same. Those who hadn't or weren't warned (Kabuto, his remaining teammate, and their sensei, the entire Oto group, including Orochimaru, all four Suna ninja, Haruhi's teammates and even Arashi) saw a sight that would be forever be imprinted on their minds.

Once everything settled down, people slowly noticed that the board had come up with two more names. "Would Inuzuka Kiba and Yamanaka Ino please come down to the floor," said the examiner, to attract the attention of the next two fighters.

"Woohoo! We got lucky, Akamaru! Ino'll be an easy win!" The small white dog barked in agreement.

"Don't count on it, dog breath! I'm not a pushover, and I'm not gonna let you just walk all over me. So get ready for the fight of your life!" The two assertive genin leapt down, glaring at each other as they moved to their starting spots.

For Naruto's part, he figured this would be an interesting fight. While he was sad that it would mean another of his friends would not be able to continue, he had already realized that battles amongst the members of their small group were likely to occur with the random (outside of any matches the bastard manipulated) selection. Plus their similarly bossy personalities were sure to make for an interesting match-up.

"Third match: Inuzuka Kiba versus Yamanaka Ino, -cough- begin!" And with Hayate's shout and cough, begin they did.

Kiba and Akamaru dashed forward as the blonde girl tossed three shuriken their direction. Both leapt to avoid them, and as they came down right on top of the kunoichi, she delivered a high kick to the small dog, sending him flying several yards. At the same time, Kiba's flying punch hit her on the shoulder, making her spin. She turned with the spin, bring around the leg she had just used to hit Akamaru towards his owner. The boy used his other arm to block the kick, and pushed off the leg with his forearm to create a bit of distance between them.

The dog-boy immediately dashed to his fallen companion to check that he was all right. Ino followed after him, planning to take advantage of his distraction. Unfortunately for her, however, Akamaru was tougher than he looked and hadn't been seriously damaged. As she thrust her fist towards her opponent's exposed back, the puppy leapt at her and bit her arm hard, taking all the power out of the blow. Kiba, realizing the girl was behind him, hit her with a powerful mule kick to the stomach.

As the blonde got up off the floor and gave the two a defiant look, Akamaru returned to his master. "Ha, good one, Kiba, but I'm gonna get serious now, so you'd better watch out!"

"Oh? Then we should do the same. Let's go, Alamaru!" He took two soldier pills, eating one himself and popping the other into his dog's mouth.

"**Gijyuu Ninpou: Jyuujin Bushin"**

The now red-furred dog leapt onto the boy's back before turning into a replica of said boy. Both of them had a much more feral appearance than was normal, with sharp claws instead of fingernails, more pointed teeth, and eyes even more slitted than usual. As the two Kibas came at her at high speeds, Ino was forced on the defensive, concentrating on dodging attacks that came constantly from all angles.

"Things don't look too good for Ino-pig right now," commented her pink-haired rival from the balcony.

Naruto, who could sense the other blonde molding up chakra for a jutsu, gave her a reassuring glance. "Ino isn't going to give up that easily. Have some faith in her."

The ramen-loving boy was right. The kunoichi flashed through several handseals, and her opponents were both suddenly drawn to the powerful scent of cooking meat coming from the far corner of the room. She used the brief distraction before they noticed the genjutsu to aim four kunai, two at each of their shoulders, hoping to simultaneously dispel the jutsu on Akamaru and weaken Kiba's arms.

Unfortunately for her, the dog-boy's reaction time was faster than she had predicted. Hearing the sound of flying metal, he threw himself to the ground, the weapons grazing the tops of his shoulders instead of penetrating into his back. The dog himself, not as used to the human body, was a bit slower and took the hits. In a burst of smoke, he reverted to his smaller red-furred form.

Knowing he didn't have enough chakra left to reuse the jyuujin bushin and keep enough for fighting, Kiba decided to rely on the puppy's superior speed in his current form, combined with his own mixture of speed and strength. The small red dog darted about the girl, forcing her to dodge the small but sharp claws and teeth while dodging her strikes himself.

When the boy saw an opening, he dashed in, swiping out with a clawed hand towards the blonde's face. Seeing the danger she was in, Ino reacted swiftly. She spun around, putting her long ponytail in the way of the attack. The hair was sliced off unevenly by the long, sharp claws, but at least her face was unharmed. After all, how would she attract boys with a great big scar marring her looks?

As the loose pieces of hair flew into her opponent's face, distracting him, Ino decided to end the fight before any permanent damage was done. She sped through a set of handseals that the boy couldn't even see thanks to the blonde locks in his eyes and thought the jutsu name instead of saying it aloud, not wanting to give her opponent any warning.

"_**Shintenshin no Jutsu"**_

Her mind energy went out to her fellow genin standing but inches away. It never got there, though. A blur of red, and the kunoichi found herself in control of four legs and a tail. When she landed on the ground, stumbling due to the unusual body formation, she spun to face her body, only to see Kiba holding her up, her arms pinned behind her back and a kunai to her neck. He grinned at her.

Ino released her jutsu and, already knowing both her and his positions, immediately kicked her right leg straight up, aiming right between the dog-boy's legs. The instant before her heel made contact, however, she felt something hard and metal strike the back of her head, and she lost consciousness.

Unfortunately for Kiba, the laws of momentum were still in effect on the kunoichi's leg, and he let out a high-pitched squeal as he dropped her body to the floor, falling down backwards himself.

Amidst his moans of pain, he heard the examiner. "Winner: Inuzuka Kiba. Can we get some medics in here?"

Many of the younger genin, especially Naruto and Haruhi, had burst out into laughter at the way the fight had ended. Sasuke even gave a small smirk combined with a grunt, as Shikamaru muttered "Troublesome."

Once the medics pronounced Ino in perfect health and left Kiba with an ice pack, the board began to spin for the next pair of fighters. It stopped on Aburame Shino and Kurosaki Sora. The bug user began to walk slowly and calmly down the stairs, followed by a more impatient purple-eyed "Ame genin."

"Hurry up, will you? I want to get this over with!"

Shino stopped and slowly turned to face the boy behind him. "You are confident in your victory, are you? That is an illogical assumption to make when you know nothing about your opponent."

"Why did I have to get a guy, anyway? Girls are more... fun." As he said this, a small smile spread across his face, but it was more malicious than happy. His tone supported this theory.

Sora had made this statement quite loudly, and nearly everyone in the room had to restrain themselves or others from leaping at the boy and tearing him to shreds. Most of them settled for intense killing intent, and the brown-haired boy found himself temporarily paralyzed by the combined killing intent of very kunoichi in the room excluding his more violent teammate, all the jonin except for the two impostors, the Hokage, and all the rookie genin.

For his part, Naruto suddenly understood just why Haruhi had asked him to kill the boy and let Kyuubi's killer intent loose on him, dwarfing everything else in the room as his eyes temporarily became red and slitted, and Sora collapsed to his knees, staring in abject horror at the blonde.

The next moment he reigned it back in, and the brown-eyed boy shakily rose to his feet before continuing down the stairs after the Aburame.

As he watched his friend and the decidedly evil, disgusting boy take their places for their match, the blue-eyed boy couldn't help but worry for Shino. There was something about his opponent that just seemed... wrong, and it wasn't just his attitude towards females. But there was nothing he could do without interfering with the exam, something his logically-minded friend would never forgive him for. So instead, Naruto stood there and watched, his hands gripping the railing in front of him tightly in his ever-mounting anxiety.

The two fighters stared at each other.

"I'm gonna kill you."

Shino made no response.

"Fourth match: Aburame Shino versus Kurosaki Sora, begin!"


	27. Chapter 27

**chapter 27**

**end of innocence**

The moment Hayate announced the start of the fight, Sora rushed quickly at his calm, stationary opponent, drawing a kunai as he ran. He slashed at the bug-boy's throat with surprising speed, apparently quite serious when he had said earlier that he wanted to finish this quickly.

Instead of blood pouring from Shino's throat, however, there were bugs. Everyone watched as his entire body and clothes swiftly deformed into a huge mass of insects that flew at the purple-eyed boy, forcing him back.

The real Shino deactivated his invisibility genjutsu and could now be seen clearly by everyone standing several feet behind where his clone had just been. Having seen his opponent's speed and skill with a kunai in that first attack, he rated them as significantly above his own and concluded that the best approach would be to stay away and let his bugs drain his foe's chakra.

Naruto, looking down from above, was now truly worried. He could tell that his friend's opponent had merely been playing around with that first attack. He gripped the metal railing in front of him tightly, hoping Shino would be all right.

But Sora wasn't about to allow his opponent to sit still. Using the kunai still in his right hand, he cut a deep gash across his left before swiftly pulling up his right shirt sleeve and smearing his blood along a series of seals drawn onto his arm. The next instant, he was holding four kunais between the fingers of his left hand and had a belt around his waist with dozens more of the deadly weapons.

Up in the balcony, Tenten let out an involuntary gasp, and her eyes widened.

The blonde standing a few feet away gave her a curious glance. "What is it, Tenten-chan?"

The weapons expert turned to face her friend. "Those are extremely high quality kunai, beyond even the best of what we make in our shop. They can have massive amounts of chakra channeled through them, and what's more, they retain that chakra for nearly a week, letting their user not have to worry about expending his or her chakra on each throw. And they're virtually indestructible as well. A single one of those kunai would likely cost eight hundred thousand yen."

Naruto's eyes widened as well. It wasn't just the monetary value of the weapons that he was shocked at. He could feel the chakra infused into each and every kunai, and she was right about it being huge. Every single one held enough to make five kage bushins. That much chakra compacted into such a small metal object would have disastrous results to anything it made contact with, including people. On top of that, he could tell, thanks to his enhanced vision, that Sora's hand was already completely healed after less than a second, something even the Kyuubi container would have been incapable of. His grip on the railing in front of him intensified, the thick metal crushing in on itself under the stress he was placing on it.

Down below, Shino made the intelligent choice of dodging the four kunai his opponent threw at him and his eyes widened behind his sunglasses as the weapons hit the wall, leaving behind an even larger crater than the one Chouji had created during his fight. Seeing the extreme danger of the chakra-enhanced weapons, he directed his bugs to target them first before going for their user.

Sora, however, didn't seem overly concerned about the black specks attaching themselves to his kunais and draining them of chakra. Indeed, he was actually laughing. If your little bugs want my chakra, they're free to have it, but I doubt thy or you will like the results."

For a few moments, the bug-user was confused. That is, until he noticed that he had somehow lost his connection to the insects that had been absorbing chakra from the kunais. "Had been" because they were no longer doing anything of the sort. No, the bugs were now heading straight towards their master, and the fact that they were not listening to him was more than enough warning that something was seriously wrong.

As the small swarm of renegade insects reached him, the Konoha genin felt their chakra spike and leapt away just in time as they all exploded with the force of twenty exploding tags. Unfortunately, he was still caught by the edge of the explosion and thrown painfully against the back wall of the room, directly below the electronic board that still held his name and that of his opponent.

Shino was angry. This boy, only a couple years older than himself, had just destroyed a large part of his colony. That plus the fact that his chakra was clearly dangerous called for a change of plans. The boy would die.

Naruto, sensing his friend's emotions, started to wonder if he should intervene before the boy got himself killed. Yes, they would both likely be disqualified from the exam, but he remembered the vow he had made on Toshiro and Akkio's graves to protect those he cared about of he could no matter what the cost. And if Shino lost his temper, something the blue-eyed boy would not have even believed possible before today, his chances of victory would drop even lower than they already were.

But no. He had collected himself and was thinking calmly again, even if those calm thoughts had a more vengeful tone than before. Seeing this, and watching as his friend let out thousands of bugs for whatever he was planning next, Naruto relaxed, letting his his body loosen up as he stepped back from the railing. The parts where he had been gripping the metal had become perfect molds of his clenched fists and, seeing that they were also red with blood, he looked at his hands and was surprised to see that the metal had dug deeply enough into his palms to draw blood. After a cursory examination, his attention returned to the battle.

Shino stayed as far away as he could from his brown-haired foe, dodging his near-constant stream of thrown kunai as the insects moved into their positions throughout the room. Whenever Sora had run out of things to throw, he would recut his hand and swipe his arm with blood again. Apparently those seals were some kind of blood-activated summoning jutsu for his kunai, as they would all vanish from where they had landed throughout the room and reappear in his hand and on his belt.

The Aburame was beginning to tire from the constant evasion, and the never-wavering smirk on his enemy's face was somewhat unnerving. But this fight was almost over; his insects were ready.

They were the most dangerous species he had at his command. So small that an individual was invisible to the normal human eye, or even the eyes of most ninja. And they had spread themselves out throughout the area surrounding his foe.

Those without any sort of advanced vision simply saw a cloud of black slowly form around Sora. Then the cloud became denser, completely obscuring him from view. And it was just moments later that the screaming started, a terrible howling of pain, made all the more frightening because no one could see what was happening.

The cloud continued to condense until it was coating Sora completely, as though he were a black person-shaped mass that seemed to be rippling slightly. As the screaming intensified, those with sensitive noses, like Naruto, Kiba, and Akamaru, clearly detected the scent of blood from the insect-coated boy's location.

Though no one could quite see what was going on, it was easy enough to guess as the black mass that resembled the boy's clothes began to dissolve and give way to a black mass in the shape of a naked human male. Sora began to scream even louder as he collapsed to the floor, still coated in the microscopic bugs.

Nearly everyone was staring on in horror as they watched someone being eaten alive. The only ones not doing so were Orochimaru, who seemed indifferent to the whole affair, Kabuto, who was looking on in a strange sense of wonder. Gaara, who was apathetic to the whole thing, Hikaru, who was grinning, Arashi, who was actually chuckling quietly, Haruhi, who appeared worried, and Naruto, who was staring at Haruhi, working on interpreting her feelings. After all, he already knew that she wanted her teammate dead, so why would she be worried about...

It was at this point that the screams died away, and Shino summoned his bugs back to himself. As the black mass moved off the boy and across the floor to its master, the body was revealed to the room. There wasn't a patch of skin left, just muscle, bones, and blood. Lots of blood. The whole area was coated in an ever-growing puddle of red. The kunai Sora had been holding in his hand throughout the match was now lying on the tiled floor by what was left of his right hand.

Shino turned to the open-mouthed Hayate. "Examiner-san, please call the match."

The man blinked several times. "Y-yes. Of course. Winner: -cough- Abu..." He trailed off in mid-word as the expression on his face turned to one of absolute horror.

It was not hard to see why. Back on the other side of the room, Sora was picking himself up off the room, dripping blood from every part of his body, his eye sockets still empty. "Ouch. That hurt, you bastard." With his lips and bits of his tongue eaten away, understanding his words was relatively difficult. Not to mention that it was absolutely disgusting to see his facial muscles moving with every sound.

As he rose to his feet, he picked up the kunai he had dropped in his skinless hand. He was still coated in blood and left streaks of the red liquid behind him as he slowly, deliberately walked over to Shino. The bug-user, along with just about everyone else in the room, was in too much of a state of shock to do anything.

While Sora was closing in on his prey, his skin was slowly regenerating, covering up some of the blood-coated muscle. The audience watched in horrified fascination as the contraction and relaxation of each muscle was clearly visible in each movement. The boy's purple eyes began to regrow in their sockets.

Then he had reached the still-unmoving Shino, and, mimicking his motion at the beginning of the fight, he brought his kunai swiftly across the younger boy's neck. But this time, it was red blood that came splattering out. Making strange sputtering noises, the Konoha ninja fell to the floor, the red liquid spilling out of his neck at an alarming rate.

No one spoke for a full minute, during which the rest of Sora's skin regenerated, leaving him standing in front of Shino's corpse, completely naked.

"Winner: Kurosaki Sora."

After the softly-spoken announcement, silence reigned again, until the victor's black-haired teammate made herself heard. "Sora, don't just stand there like an idiot. Put these on." She tossed him a change of clothes, and he swiftly followed the command.

It was at this point that the shock of what everyone had just seen wore off, and the rookie genin realized what had happened. Shino was dead.

_Shino_ was _dead_.

Each of the Konoha nins who had known him reacted in a different way. Hinata shakily sat herself down against the wall, where she stayed huddled up with her knees near her chest, shivering uncontrollably. Kiba and Akamaru, as one, let out a pained howl at the loss of his teammate, his pack member. Kurenai's reaction was one of pure hate. She had known that there was a chance of death in the exam. Of course she knew. But that had just been... unnecessary. It took all her years of training and strict control to restrain herself from using her most powerful genjutsu to turn that murderer's mind to mush.

For the genin of team 10, it was their first time seeing a death, and all three were confused as to how to handle it, especially since it had been a friend. Sure, Shino had always been very quiet and withdrawn, but he had always been there, acting as the voice of reason whenever things got too out of hand amongst the rest of them. Chouji and Shikamaru huddled together tightly and began to cry and sob as one for the loss of their friend. Their sensei had a downcast look on his face; he knew what it was like to suddenly lose a friend.

On the other side of the room, Lee and Gai , despite neither of them having ever met the Aburame, had silent streams of tears running down their faces. Sasuke, seeing the dead body of someone he had considered, not quite a friend, but at least a good ally, was reminded of the last time he had been in a similar situation, his brother standing over the freshly-dead bodies of their parents, bloody katana still in hand. Sakura instinctively clung to the closes person to her, who happened to be her sensei. She wept openly into his jonin vest as the man did his best to comfort her.

The Sandaime stood exactly where he was, not making a single movement except to close his eyes. The aura of sadness around him at the loss of one of his young charges, however, was palpable, and anyone who looked closely could see the trails of tears falling down his wrinkled, aged face. Haruhi was downcast. She had known the result from the moment the names had appeared, of course. And while she had never even seen Shino until less than a week ago when the exam had begun, she couldn't help but feel sad at the boy's death. Haku wept almost as badly as he had at Zabuza's funeral a few months prior. Although he had only known the boy for a short time, he had come to like him and enjoy his quiet, his constant presence, and his straightforward, logical view of the world. He suddenly came to a realization that only compounded his sadness: there was now a genin team with an open spot for him to fill.

For his part, Naruto, stood perfectly still, barely even breathing. He hadn't felt this way for a long time, and he knew that if he so much as blinked, he would lose control and flay that bastard alive, again, crush every bone in his body to dust, wait for him to regenerate, then do it all over again before tearing his body into miniscule pieces, all with his bare hands. But now wasn't the time. His friends needed comfort, and he was the only one in their group in any state to give it.

Memories of Shino flashed through his mind. The first day meeting him at the Academy (was it really only a bit over four years ago?), the day he had asked him if he wanted to be friends, the time he had convinced the seemingly-emotionless Aburame to help him with a prank by sending a group of insects into Mizuki-teme's bed, that one day when he had nearly caught sight of the boy's eyes. So many memories flashed through his mind, but he had no time to express his grief right now, no time to pay attention to the hole he could feel in the back of his mind, as though something was missing from the world.

Which it was. Shino was missing. He was gone, never to return. Shino, with his bugs, and his logic, and his stability, and his glasses, and... No. Not right now. Naruto's friends needed him now; they had never been through something like this, and they needed his help.

He looked around the room, starting with his team. Sasuke had already lived through the deaths of his entire family and, while he had clearly not come out of that very well, he was still here and was getting better. Sasuke would be all right. Sakura was with Kakashi-sensei. The man had experienced this kind of thing before, he could help her deal with it. Haku had already been through the loss of the most important person in his entire world, twice. He would be back to normal soon.

Turning his gaze across the room, the blonde saw his remaining friends. Hinata, Kiba, and Akamaru were a wreck, but that was to be expected. They had been closest to the bug boy, after all. Kurenai-sensei was trying to comfort her students, but neither was settled down enough yet to listen to her. If they couldn't listen to her, they probably wouldn't be able to listen to him just yet, either. That left Shikamaru and Chouji.

Looking at the final group of his friends, he was temporarily angered to see that Asuma-sensei was doing nothing for them. But on closer inspection of the man's emotions, he seemed to be trying to deal with some hard past experiences that had been awakened in his mind. So Naruto walked up to his friends on team 10.

While on his way over, he absently noted that the board had started spinning again. Well, as long as no one he cared about was picked, there wouldn't be a problem. That was when he remembered who was secretly controlling the matches...

Fortunately, Arashi seemed to think fights between grieving genin weren't worth the time to watch and instead picked a fight between siblings. Temari and Kankuro, in fact. Good. Naruto had the presence of mind to make a kage bushin to watch the match. It would be good to know how they fought, even if he wouldn't be going up against either one during the preliminaries.

"How're you two doing?" The orange-clad genin had reached his friends. Neither of them answered right away.

"I-I just can't believe he's gone." This was Shikamaru.

Chouji was clearly trying his best to find a slightly more positive angle on the situation. "I'm glad that... that Ino wasn't here to see this. She's lucky."

"No she isn't. She still lost a friend, and she still has to be told about it. And it'll be just as painful for her as it is for us." Naruto gave his friends a sad look.

The Nara genius was still crying. "We need to hold a funeral."

"Don't worry, we will. But not right now." While he spoke, the blue-eyed boy stared straight into his friend's eyes and, using his shinkagan, tried to suppress the worst of the grief. He hated himself for doing it, but Shikamaru hadn't had his match yet, and if he wasn't thinking straight when he did, he could very well end up just as dead as Shino. There were still six possible opponents who would have no reservations whatsoever about killing him. "There's an exam going on, and for all we know, you'll be up next. So you've got to be able to concentrate when it comes to your turn. I don't want to lose another friend today. We probably feel like stabbing our own hears out over what happened, but he wouldn't want that."

"Y-yeah. You're right. Thanks, Naruto."

Suddenly, Chouji's crying intensified. "I-I can't re-remember if I ever showed him that o-one pretty species of butterfly that al-always liked me."

Both of the other boys searched their memories to remember just what their large friend was talking about. It was the blonde who recalled it first. "Yeah, you did. For his eleventh birthday, remember? I think that was one of the only times I ever saw him express any excitement. He had said it was a previously undiscovered species and ran home to show his dad. I think it was the best birthday present any of us ever gave him."

"Oh yeah, I remember that now, Naruto. He even laughed he was so happy. It was creepy. Thank you." A small smile appeared on the Akimichi's face at the memory.

"So you guys are doing better for now?"

"A bit, yeah. Thanks for taking the time to talk to us. It must have been troublesome."

"Now there's the lazy genius I know! And it's no problem. As I've said before, helping each other is what friends are here for."

Then Shikamaru turned serious. "All right, let's make a promise, the three of us. If one of us gets a chance to kill that freak Sora, we take it."

Naruto stopped him with a hard glare. "No. For one thing, I already made a promise to kill him, and I'm going to do it, and probably enjoy doing it as well after today. But more importantly, I don't think either of you _can_ kill him. You both saw what happened, and he was just playing around with Shino. So I want you to give up any thoughts of revenge right now, or I swear I'll personally beat them out of you. If one of you got yourselves killed trying to avenge Shino's death, how do you think the rest of us would feel?" The guilty feeling coming from the shadow user showed that he understood. "Good. Now, I need to go see if I can do anything for Hinata-chan."

When the blonde got over to the white-eyed girl, he could ell that she was already doing much better. "Hinata-chan?"

"Oh, hello, Naruto-kun. I just finished talking with Haruhi. She is very nice and understanding, and she helped me deal with my feelings a bit. She actually reminds me a lot of you, except, well, a girl."

"Yeah, Haru-chan and I are pretty similar, aren't we?" He grinned for the first time in what seemed like forever, but was actually less than than twenty minutes. Then he noticed the Hyuuga heiress's expression. "No, not like that! You know you're the only one I like like that. The two of us are just so similar that we connected, _as friends_. I call her Haru-chan and she calls me Naru-kun. We've been talking a lot these past few days. I'm glad she could help you, but if you ever need anyone else to talk to, you know I'm always here for you, Hinata-chan."

"Th-thank you, Naruto-kun." She smiled at him and for just an instant, he was able to forget what had just happened.

Their brief moment together, however, was interrupted by Hayate's voice. "Winner: Sabaku no Temari." A second later, Naruto's shadow clone that he had left to watch the fight dispelled itself, returning its memories to the original.

* * *

"Fifth match: Sabaku no Temari versus Sabaku no Kankuro, begin!"

Naruto's kage bushin forced all thoughts of Shino and what he would do to Sora to the side to concentrate on the fight between the Sand siblings.

The blonde girl was clearly bored. "Kankuro, why don't you just give up? We both already know how this is going to go."

Her younger had a stubborn expression on his face that Naruto wouldn't have found out of place on himself, minus the makeup. "Shut up, Temari! Just because you've won the last forty one times doesn't men you'll win this time. I've got some new tricks up my sleeve now."

The older of the two sighed. "Idiot. Now that you said that, I'll be watching for them. Whatever, let's get this over with." And with that, she took her fan off her back, opened it, and swung the weapon all in one motion. The chakra-infused gust of wind rushed at her brother, who brought his still-wrapped puppet off of his back to block it. The force of the wind was still enough to push him back several feet.

Then it was the puppeteer's turn. The wooden contraption burst forth from its wrappings and flew at the kunoichi, circling around to her side to keep her attention off her brother. Unfortunately for him, the boy had in fact been bluffing about new weapons, as Temari was able to either avoid or deflect every single hidden weapon as though she were expecting it.

When Kankuro tried to send his puppet in for close combat, she simply closed up her fan and smacked it. Hard. The blow was enough to temporarily detach the chakra strings, and that was all the girl needed. She rushed at her brother, moving significantly faster than the speed he attempted to back away at.

When she got in close, he managed to reattach his puppet's chakra strings and was just about to fire a hidden kunai at her back when she twirled around behind him and held a kunai of her own to his neck. "Give up. Karasu can't reach me in time to save you, and if you have him shoot that kunai, he'll hit you instead of me."

Anger flooded him for a moment, before he let his chakra strings fade away. "I give up."

"Winner: Sabaku no Temari."

While the match itself hadn't been particularly interesting, seeing chakra strings in use for the first time in his life gave Naruto tons of ideas. And the kunoichi's peculiar use of wind chakra had caught his interest as well. Deciding that he'd think more on this later, the kage bushin dispelled himself.

* * *

By the time Naruto had completely finished analyzing the information from his kage bushin, the board had picked the next two contestants. He was _very_ glad he had taken the time to talk to Shikamaru, though he knew absolutely nothing about Misumi Tsuguri except that he was Kabuto's teammate and therefore likely could not be trusted.

The glasses-wearing man (it was interesting how every single member of that team, even the sensei, wore glasses) leapt to the floor, like so many others had done that day. Shikamaru, being Shikamaru, however, opted to save energy and take the stairs. Slowly.

"Hurry it up already!" shouted his opponent.

The lazy Nara muttered something about "troublesome glasses-wearing spies" before continuing just as slowly to the floor. The boy really was a genius, Naruto realized. Not only had he figured out (somehow) that Kabuto and his teammates were fakes, but his slow walking was infuriating his opponent, giving him the advantage right from the start of the fight.

Nearly half a minute later, he had arrived in his starting position. "Sixth match: Misumi Tsuguri versus Nara Shikamaru, begin!"

The moment the fight began, one thing became completely obvious to every single person watching. Misumi Tsuguri was an idiot of the highest degree. He just charged straight at the young genin, not even taking out a kunai or preparing to attack as he closed in. It was like he planned on just trampling his significantly smaller opponent.

But that wasn't even the stupidest thing he did. Not by a longshot. The stupidest thing he did was to continue his charge uninterrupted as Shikamaru made handseals. The stupidest thing he did was to make no attempt to dodge as the boy's shadow shot out towards him. An instant later, he had stopped his forward momentum and was standing in the exact same position as the young Nara.

"Kage Mane no Jutsu success. You must be the stupidest person I've ever met in my life. And I'm friends with Naruto and Kiba, so that's saying something." The two aforementioned friends let out a shout of indignation. At the same time that he was upset at the false blow against his intelligence (Shikamaru knew very well that the blonde won whenever they played Go instead of Shougi, so there), Naruto was glad to hear Kiba's voice. It meant Kurenai-sensei had been able to talk him back to his normal self, at least for the time being.

While he had been talking, the shadow user had walked around in a half-circle, his opponent being forced to mimic his movements, until the unbelievably stupid older genin was standing a couple feet from the nearest wall, facing away from it. A quick backwards leap, and he had slammed his own head into the hard stone, knocking himself unconscious. It was the shortest match of the day, not even lasting thirty seconds.

"Winner: Nara Shikamaru." The pineapple-haired boy muttered something about troublesome exams and mothers as he lazily made his way back upstairs, while a team of medics came in to take away the unconscious Tsuguri.

A minute later, everyone was again watching the flashing board, waiting to see who would be up next. It stopped on Sabaku no Gaara and Shiguro Hikaru. Naruto smirked. This would be a match worth watching.


	28. Chapter 28

**chapter 28**

**desert flower heaven**

Gaara and Hikaru stood facing each other.

"Prepare yourself," said the black-haired kunoichi.

The Ichibi jinchuriki just stood there.

"Seventh match: Shiguro Hikaru versus Sabaku no Gaara, begin!" announced Hayate.

The girl immediately went through a series of handseals that had become intimately familiar to Naruto in recent months.

"**Kage Bushin no Jutsu"**

A single shadow clone appeared right next to her, and both went through several more handseals, the real one going slightly faster.

"**Katon: Guokakyu no Jutsu"**

"**Fuuton: Daitoppa no Jutsu"**

The huge fireball from the real Hikaru was caught up in her kage bushin's wind blast, increasing the heat and intensity of the flames exponentially. When the jutsu combination smashed into Gaara, his sand automatically moved to protect him and was turned to glass in an instant.

The kunoichi and her clone both rushed at the glass and hit it with chakra-enhanced punches, causing the half-sphere to explode inward on its master. Unfortunately for her, Gaara was not so overconfident of his absolute defense that he would risk his life on it. The redhead leapt back at the last possible moment.

Realizing that his opponent obviously knew his abilities, he decided to take her seriously. He sent out a tendril of sand that just barely managed to catch her leg as she and the kage bushin leapt away. He took advantage of her prone state.

"**Sabaku Kyuu"**

In under a second, her entire body was surrounded by sand.

"**Sabaku Souso"**

But there was no blood, only smoke. A kawarimi with her kage bushin that he had missed managed to save Hikaru's life.

While Gaara believed himself to be killing the girl, she had been speeding through handseals. When she finished, nothing happened. At least nothing immediately visible. Naruto, however, could feel powerful emotions of sadness and rage running through the boy's mind. The effects of genjutsu were obvious.

That was when something happened that no one would have expected. Gaara began to cry.

His older siblings looked on in shock as their emotionless killer of a little brother stood there sobbing his heart out. Through his tears, everyone could hear him speaking. "Ya-Yashamaru..."

This strange sight continued for a full ten seconds, and all the while Hikaru just stood there, smirking at the mental anguish she was causing the jinchuriki.

"YASHAMARU!" With this scream of anguish, sand exploded outward from the redhead in all directions, and everyone present felt the massive spike in his chakra levels. To the kunoichi's dismay, the chakra spike was far more than enough to break him of the genjutsu. It took her less than a second to figure out her mistake: she had made Gaara angry.

An angry jinchuriki meant death and destruction for all around them, and when she looked at him glaring at her, the black-haired girl was terrified. The killing intent he was focusing on her was so great that she barely managed to move in time. But she rolled to the side at the last second, dodging a burst of sand that decimated the stone where she had previously stood.

As soon as she dodged the first attack, though, a second slammed directly into her chest, breaking three ribs as her body slammed up against the wall. Convulsing in pain, she collapsed to the ground, wishing she had her teammate's regenerative ability.

It was around this time that Ino came back into the room, fully recovered. She walked over to her teammates, who informed her about Shino. She immediately broke down in tears.

Back in the fight, Gaara advanced slowly on his prey, the energy of his chakra picking up the small chips of broken floor pieces and swirling them around him. He stared down into her fear-filled eyes as she lay on the ground before him. Then, amazingly, looking her death in the face, she found the courage to move again.

A pair of close-range shurikens forced the sand to retreat in a block as Hikaru leapt to her feet, ignoring the pain that shot through her broken ribs. Pushing a large amount of chakra into her legs, she dodged wave after wave of sand while thinking over her available options. She could keep fighting and be killed painfully by Gaara. Or she could give up and likely be killed even more painfully by Arashi-sama, unless she was lucky and he didn't feel like it right away, n which case he would probably let Sora play with her first... She shuddered at the thought.

Death by Gaara was by far the more preferable choice, but there was no way she was going down without a fight. Come to think of it, she hadn't had a chance to kill anyone in several weeks, thanks to that stupid bitch Haruhi. Now that just wasn't right.

Well, she was dead anyway, might as well have some fun in the process. With that thought, she took out her favorite piece of ninja equipment from her pouch. She would have to work fast; as soon as the spectators found out that she was ignoring the rules, she'd be dead. Now, who to kill?

Haruhi was watching her teammate closely, and became worried the moment she took out her fuuma shuriken. And it wasn't just any fuuma shuriken, but _that_ one. What in the world would she be doing using that thing here? Was she insane? Scratch that, yes she was, but still... The kunoichi wished she could read people better, like she remembered her father and aunt always doing when she was little.

Naruto had been picking up strange emotions and feelings from Hikaru for the last ten seconds, and the sudden worry from Haru-chan only made him more convinced that something was wrong. That was when he saw the kunoichi's cold black eyes flash over the audience. The single millisecond of direct eye contact was enough for the blonde to figure out her thoughts.

It made no sense. What the hell kind of life would make a person think their last act should be to kill someone? Well, there was _no way_ he would allow her to go through with it. Paying close attention, he saw her sweeping eyes stop for an instant... on Hinata-chan.

Seeing the girl preparing to launch herself at her target, Naruto moved at a speed he had never though himself capable of before, hoping it would be fast enough. She was much closer to the pale-eyed beauty than he was.

Time seemed to slow down as he ran forward, channeling as much chakra as he possibly could to not only his legs, but his brain as well. It was like the entire world, himself included, was moving in slow motion. Hikaru hurtling through the air. Haru-chan dashing to intercept her. Hinata-chan realizing the danger she was in an instant too late to get away.

Reaching his arms behind his back, the blonde drew his swords and swung them both in a wide arc, the first aiming for the odd fuuma shuriken and the second for Hikaru's neck. In slow motion, Naruto watched as his blades hit their respective targets, stopping the overlarge shuriken's momentum from carrying it into the girl he loved, and slicing through the other girl's neck like butter.

Still in slow motion, Haruhi reached them and grabbed the shuriken out of midair before hurling it at amazing speeds towards the ceiling in the center of the room. No blood had yet had time to come out of the dead girl's head or neck, as the whole even had taken place in less than a second.

The fuuma shuriken was moving so fast that it actually began to cut through the stone ceiling of the room without even slowing down. That is, until the chakra infused into the weapon spiked and it exploded with the force of fifty exploding notes, sending ceiling pieces flying in all directions.

It was at this point that most of the genin finally noticed what had just happened, and the blood spray began, the red liquid squirting out of the girl's artery onto Naruto, Haruhi, Hinata, and the nearby wall. Hayate was the first to speak. "Winner by disqualification: Sabaku no Gaara."

"You okay, Hinata-chan?" asked the blonde.

"Y-yes. Thank you, Naruto-kun. And you too, Haruhi." She, like many others, was still trying to work out what had just happened.

"Yeah, thanks Haru-chan. An exploding shuriken wasn't something I was expecting."

"Well, I can't let you get yourself killed before I kick your ass."

"Ha. Like you could."

The blue- and hazel-eyed ninja stared into each other's eyes, smiling.

"Hey, ojisan! What should we do with the body?!" Naruto turned to shout at the Hokage on the far side of the room.

The old man looked over at his favorite blonde, his lips curving up in a small grin at how he was already back to his happy, energetic personality. "The cleaning crew will take care of it during the next match. For now just stay away from that part of the room."

"Okay. Thanks Ojisan!" He turned again to the orangeish-red-haired girl beside him. "Haru-chan, do you want to stay with me and Hinata-chan?"

The kunoichi smiled and nodded. "Sure!" And the three walked closer to the stairs, away from the body and blood.

"All right, it is time to select the next match." When the examiner said this, all eyes turned to the board. They watched the names flash past until it stopped on two. "Would Abumi Zaku and Hanuro Sakura please come down here?"

"GO SAKURA, YOU CAN DO IT!"

"YEAH! GO PINKY! SHOW THAT BOY WHO'S BOSS!"

"YOSH! SAKURA-CHAN, SHOW EVERYONE YOUR FLAMES OF YOUTH!"

Unfortunately, while the first two shouts came from all the way across the room from team 7's kunoichi, Lee was standing right next to her, and the med-nin-in-training had to use a minor healing jutsu to regain hearing in her left ear before jumping to the floor.

"Thanks, Naruto and whatever-your-name-is! I won't let you down!"

Zaku looked at her. "Oh yeah? And what does a little girlie like you think you can do against me, huh?"

"Just for that, by the time I'm done with you, you won't be able to move for a week!" She glared at the Oto nin, emerald eyes flashing dangerously.

"Hmph. Hey, stupid down there with the ridiculous clothes, you had better take her seriously or the fight will be over before it starts." Sakura couldn't help but blush at this praise, as it had come from her Sasuke-kun.

"Eighth match: Abumi Zaku versus Hanuro Sakura, begin!"

The moment Hayate signaled the start of the battle, the pink-haired girl reached into the pack at her side and took out several senbon. She had been training in their use recently with Haku's aid, and now it was finally time to see just how well that training had paid off. Targeting precisely, she threw the needles at her foe's shoulders.

Zaku was slightly too slow to move and found three senbon in specific points his right shoulder, temporarily paralyzing his arm, though the weapons were slightly off-target on the left.

"You bitch! Zankuha!" Using his left arm, he shot a blast of air at her, but a speedy kawarimi had her out of trouble. The piece of rubble from the destroyed ceiling, however, was demolished by the powerful air wave.

She used the free second she had gained before the dust settled and he realized his mistake to close in on the Oto genin, increasing her speed far beyond her normal limits by releasing chakra from her feet each time they made contact with the ground. Unfortunately for the boy, he turned to face her just as her fist collided with his head, breaking his nose as he flew backwards several feet.

Sakura was not about to let up, though. Before her opponent had even landed, she was going through seals for a genjutsu What Zaku saw next was her throwing five kunai straight at him. Not noticing the illusion, he activated his zankuha again to blow the sharp weapons right back in her face. In doing so, however, he left his arm a completely open target for the real kunoichi, who had moved to his side.

A single chakra-enhanced kunai throw was enough to pierce deep into his forearm, both causing him to scream in pain, and, more importantly, stopping him from using that dangerous air blast. She closed in for more taijutsu, aiming a kick at his chest. That was when he did something unexpected, though.

The genjutsu having been dispelled by the pain, he now knew exactly where she was. Leaping straight backwards and twisting in midair, he managed to get his unresponsive arm to temporarily point directly at the kunoichi. A single powerful air blast sent her flying across the room, even as he was forced to land painfully on his back thanks to the odd angle of his jump.

Sakura found herself in pain. She had underestimated her opponent; that kind of clever spur-of-the-moment tactic was the kind of thing she would expect to see from Naruto, not some random overconfident jerk from another village. She hadn't even had time to reinforce her body with chakra before the blast had struck.

Giving herself a quick check-over, she counted two broken ribs from the force of the direct hit from the blast. Five deep gashes, three on her shoulders, one on her left cheek, and the last and worst going vertically up the side of her left thigh (not surprising, seeing as she had been trying to kick him with it at the time) had been caused by the cutting nature of the wind. She also seemed to have a small fracture in her right leg from the hard collision with the wall.

Zaku was on the ground. Good, that would give her at least ten seconds before he regained his feet and got over to her, with both arms now out of commission, as based on his scream when the kunai had connected, his pain tolerance wasn't high enough to let him stand putting pressure on his left arm. She was very glad not everyone was a freak like Naruto, who could punch someone while his fist was broken and not even flinch.

She quickly went through the required handseals. "Shosen no Jutsu." Most important to heal were the ribs and the left leg. The ribs would cause extreme pain with every movement and there was risk of puncturing a lung or even her heart. The leg would be severely weakened, as the cut had actually gone into the muscle. Unfortunately, there just wasn't time to properly heal the ribs right now, so she'd have to settle for an extremely weak reattachment of the broken bones. But another good hit to her chest might prove fatal. Once that was done, she got as much work done on her leg as she safely could before returning to her feet.

She would need to finish this fast, before he figured out she wasn't fully healed. Fortunately, Sakura had the advantage of being able to use her arms. Now was one of those times she wished she wasn't so bad at most ninjutsu, but there was still that jutsu Kabuto-sensei had taught her just days before the exams had begun. She rushed through the handseals, praying that she could get it to work properly, and finished just in time.

"**Chakra no Mesu"**

The green glow that had previously surrounded her hands turned blue, and she moved into a defensive stance, waiting for her opponent to attack and leave an opening. Luckily enough, he turned put to be the kind of person who liked to charge in blindly.

When he aimed a kick with his left foot towards her stomach, she twisted to her left and placed her hand on the thigh of the attacking leg, cutting into the muscle. Using his remaining leg, he attempted to hit her with another air blast using the same trick that had worked not twenty seconds ago, but she saw it coming. Leaping in an arch over him at the same moment he threw himself backwards, she somersaulted in midair, using the movement to build momentum before slamming her right heel straight into his face just as he made contact with the stone floor. The force of impact o the back of his head was enough to make him lose consciousness.

Hayate, seeing that the match was over, spoke again. "Winner: Hanuro Sakura."

Then the praise began.

"YEAH! YOU DID IT, SAKURA!" Naruto.

"GREAT FIGHT, PINKY!" That loud girl again.

"SAKURA-CHAN! YOUR BATTLE WAS THE EPITOME OF YOUTHFULNESS! YOSH!" Lee, obviously.

"Good work, Sakura." She thought it was the first time Kakashi-sensei had ever complimented her fighting.

"Great going, Forehead." Apparently, Ino had recovered enough from her crying to compliment her friend/rival.

"You fought well, Sakura." She blushed again on hearing Sasuke-kun.

After walking up the stairs back to Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-sensei, the kunoichi sat down and resumed her self-healing as the medics carried out her defeated opponent on a stretcher.

On the other side of the room, Naruto and Haruhi were discussing his pink-haired teammate's fight.

"I think that was the best fight I've seen so far today, Haru-chan."

"Exactly. That was pretty close to being a fight between equals, like I was talking about the other night. Your teammate was a bit better and she was obviously more determined to win, but they were pretty close in overall ability."

"Heh, yeah. She also managed to have the advantage for most of the battle, except for that one point when he surprised her."

"You're right. When that happened, I thought for a moment that she might not win, but apparently medical jutsu can come in handy even during mid-fight."

"I'm glad I suggested the idea of making her a med nin to Kakashi-sensei, even if she is going to need a new instructor after the exam."

"Really? Why? Her current sensei seems to have done a good job teaching her."

"Yeah, but that current sensei is four-eyes-teme over there." He jerked his thumb in the direction of Orochimaru's spy.

"Oh," was Haruhi's simple response. "Hey, look! They've got the next match picked out already! This should be a good one, Naru-kun, let's watch."

The blonde boy turned his attention to the board. "Tenten-chan and the mummy guy from Oto? Nah, their abilities give her a clear advantage, but it'll still be good to watch. She's a long-range weapons specialist, and he, as I found out during the last exam, likes to make high-frequency sound waves that he controls with his chakra."

"Oh? When did you meet him during the last exam?"

"He and his teammates were trying to sneak up on us. Noisily. Those three don't seem to be very experienced, because they kinda froze up in shock when they saw the size of my swords, so it was ridiculously easy to capture them. They were pretty free with information, too."

The two grinned at each other at the though of low-quality ninja. "Heh, idiots. Then again, the size of your swords is pretty shocking at first sight. I mean, how often do you see a twelve year old running around with two swords bigger than most full-grown people?"

Naruto sheepishly scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah, I guess it is a bit unusual, but then again, even something as simple walking up a wall can be surprising if you don't already know it can be done. By the way, how did you know what my swords looked like before the exam even started?"

"Oh, um, well, I kinda, um, spied on you training the night before."

"Ah, I see... Wait, you were spying on me?!"

"Uh, yeah. Sorry. Anyway, the match is starting, let's watch!"

Naruto growled in frustration. There was no way he was letting her get away with that. But she was right about the match starting; he'd just have to get back to the topic later. At that point, the examiner started the match, interrupting his thoughts. "Ninth match: Kinuta Dosu versus Tanaka Tenten, begin!"

Immediately, Tenten leapt backwards several feet from her starting location taking out a kunai and several shuriken as she went. Then she just stood there, waiting for her opponent to make the first move.

"Wow. She did a perfect job distancing herself from him. Far enough away to have a good amount of time to react if he does anything, but close enough that he'll have a lot of trouble dodging any thrown weapons," Haruhi commented

At that same time, Dosu ran at the kunoichi, who immediately leapt backwards and flung her shuriken at the Oto genin. Seeing that he wouldn't have enough time to dodge or to block all of the weapons, he moved the metal contraption on his arm into the way of two of them while maneuvering to keep the remaining ones from hitting the vital spots they had been heading towards. Two more shuriken dug into the ground on either side of the boy.

"Tenten-chan's skill and accuracy with long-range weapons is way above what you'd expect. Plus she's pretty clever. Unfortunately, I don't think this fight'll last very long." The blonde was proven correct when Orochimaru's lackey seemed to trip on midair and fall to the ground.

Hinata, who had been watching the battle with the aid of her Byakugan, saw the reason for this. "Those two shuriken in the floor were connected by a chakra string."

Haruhi looked a bit disappointed as Tenten dashed at her downed opponent and hit him in the back of the neck with the handle of her kunai. "That really wasn't a fair matchup, was it? She's definitely pretty good, though. The chakra string idea was brilliant."

"Told you so. Now it's just the three of us, Sasuke-teme, Neji, and the four-eyes bastard left." Naruto grinned. Whatever the matchups turned out to be from here on, they were sure to be good.

"Winner: Tanaka Tenten," Hayate announced from the floor. "Now, let us choose the next match."

As medics came to take Dosu away, the board began to spin for the second-to-last time.


	29. Chapter 29

**chapter 29**

**revenge and love**

When the board finally stopped on two names, Hayate spoke up. "Would Uchiha -cough Sasuke and -cough- Yakushi Kabuto please come to the floor?"

Naruto frowned. This did not look good. The results of the fight would be based entirely on wether or not Kabuto would let Sasuke win. In fact, it wouldn't even be a real fight. The power gap was simply too great.

Down in the center of the room, the Uchiha stood across from the spy. "You may have helped us before, Kabuto, but I will defeat you now."

The glasses-wearing nin smirked. "Such big words, Sasuke-kun, but do you really think you can win against me?"

To the relief of his blonde teammate, Sasuke kept his cool and just glared at his opponent.

"Tenth match: Uchiha Sasuke versus Yakushi Kabuto, begin!"

The dark-haired boy immediately dashed forward and attacked with rapid taijutsu. Kabuto blocked or dodged each and every blow, not letting a single one connect. Occasionally, he would strike out towards the Uchiha in an easily-avoided attack.

This continued for nearly two full minutes before Sasuke leapt back, panting slightly, to recover from his constant offensive.

Up in the balcony, Naruto and Haruhi shared a glance. It was obvious to both of them, as well as any other skilled ninja watching, that the older genin wasn't even trying. There had been multiple points where Sasuke had left himself open enough that someone with even just the speed Kabuto was showing in his defense would have been able to get a clear hit. What was he doing?

Sasuke decided to take it up a notch. Activating both his sharingan and the horyukubushi no jutsu (flaming dragon fist technique) Naruto had given him before the mission to Wave, he went in for another, much faster, assault.

Over the past couple months, his skill with the horyukubushi had improved drastically to the point where he could now make small, concentrated bursts of fire appear anywhere around his body without much effort.

The effective jutsu was enough to actually surprise Kabuto, who found his forearm slightly burnt when he went to block the first punch. The fraction of a second of shock was enough time to land a solid kick to the glasses-wearing boy's chest, which, coupled with the flame burst, was enough to send him flying up and back several feet.

Sasuke immediately took out a trio of shuriken and targeted them for his opponent's landing point. But the grey-haired teen simply grabbed a kunai and blocked all three, before throwing the weapon at the Uchiha.

It was only thanks to his sharingan that the young genin was able to dodge the airborne weapon speeding towards his chest, spinning to the right as it flew past him. Charging in for a third time, he was frustrated to find his foe dodging each and every blow, including the extra range of the firebursts.

When Kabuto next went for a half-hearted palm thrust at Sasuke's chest, however, he was surprised again to end up with a burnt palm. The Uchiha was better than he had hoped and had yet to use any major ninjutsu.

Almost as though he were reading his foe's mind, the black-haired boy leapt back and sped through handseals.

"**Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu"**

A swarm of white-hot fireballs, each slightly larger than a fist, sped at the med-nin. He expertly contorted his body to dodge straight through the center of the spray of flames.

Sasuke was truly beginning to get frustrated. He was throwing everything he had at this guy and barely getting any results. Plus, he remembered with a jolt, his opponent was Sakura's medical jutsu teacher, so he would be easily capable of healing the surface burns he had acquired.

He would need to do something, or else he'd lose from chakra exhaustion. What he would have given for Naruto's stamina right now.

"Come now, Sasuke-kun. Surely that isn't the best you can do?" That infuriating, superior smirk was still on his face. "Well then, I should probably start attacking now, if you're not going to do anything."

The blow was fast, too fast. And Sasuke, still recovering, wasn't able to get his body to move in time. A fist slammed into his gut with impressive force. It felt more like a hit from Kakashi, or Naruto, when he didn't hold back, than something from a genin who had failed the Chunin Exams multiple times. Blood spurted from his mouth before he crumpled to the floor, his body convulsing in pain.

"Silly little fool, Sasuke-kun. To think you stand even a slight chance against your betters the way you are now." Kabuto knelt down next to him, that smirk, somehow seeming a mixture of friendly, malicious, and condescending all at once, still present.

The Uchiha could feel the anger building up inside him. How was it that this guy was able to beat him so easily? It just wasn't fair! No. He had to keep his emotions in check. If that seal on his neck got out of control...

"Remember how I told you that I've been collecting information on all the examinees? Would you like to know what I learned about you, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke knew that he was trying to make him angry. He just had to block out whatever he said. What would Naruto do in a situation like this? He looked to his teammate for inspiration, only to see those clear blue eyes staring right back at him in determination, telling him that it wasn't over. Behind his back, the black-eyed boy began to reach silently for his kunai pouch.

"You're weak. All the information I have gathered about you has led to that one simple conclusion. You are weak, Sasuke-kun. And you laying here at my feet, unable to move, proves it."

The younger boy grit his teeth, trying his hardest to focus on silently grabbing a kunai, but he could still hear what the grey-haired boy was saying.

Kabuto leaned in close, bringing his glasses-covered eyes inches from Sasuke's black ones. "Tell me, how does it feel to be weak?"

In a flash, the Uchiha had moved, extending the arm that had been behind his back, and the sharp edge of his kunai was up against his opponent's throat. "Give up."

Not once did the smirk leave his face. "Why, of course. It seems I made a mistake after all, and so I admit my defeat. Examiner, I give up!"

"Winner by forfeiture: Uchiha Sasuke," announced Hayate. No one cheered. They all knew it hadn't been a victory.

It wasn't until he was walking back up the stairs that Sasuke realized what had just happened, and the truth hit him harder than the punch he had taken not a minute ago. That bastard had let him win, plain and simple. He had just stood there doing nothing as Sasuke had reached for his kunai, and then he had leaned in close, giving a perfect shot at his neck. He had been right: he was weak. How was he supposed to ever kill Itachi like this?

Naruto looked over in worry to his friend still climbing the stairs. He could feel the anger and self-resentment pouring off the dark-eyed boy in waves, and found himself hoping that the Uchiha would be all right. He had just been taunted and humiliated in font of everyone, and his pride was a very important thing in his eyes.

No time for that now. Since that match had been Sasuke and Kabuto-teme, and he knew he and Haru-chan would be fighting, that left...

Hinata saw Naruto-kun glance at her anxiously. And when the names stopped on the board, she felt that anxiety herself. Neji-niisan.

"Do your best, Hinata-chan." He gave her a kiss on the cheek, making the Hyuuga heiress blush. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she barely even noticed herself walking down the stepts and to the center of the room, facing her cousin.

Neji's white eyes had their perpetual angry look. "Hinata-sama. Please give up. Fate has decreed that you will lose today, and I would like to spare you the pain of defeat if possible."

"No. I will fight you here today until I can no longer move and show everyone here hom much I've improved, so prepare yourself, Neji-niisan."

"If your wish is to lose, then so be it. Know only that I will not hold back just because of your position as heiress to the Main House."

"Eleventh match: Hyuuga Hinata versus Hyuuga Neji, begin!"

Both fighters activated their byakugans. They ran forward and met in the exact center of the room, where they engaged in a fierce taijutsu competition. It looked more like a dance than a fight, each twirling and thrusting, dodging and diverting strikes, spinning around each other with the supreme grace of the jyuuken fighting style of the Hyuuga.

Haruhi was watching the fight with interest. "Looks like they're both pretty good. Hey, what's the matter, Naru-kun?"

The blonde next to her was looking anxiously at the battle below. "There's lots of family tension amongst the Hyuugas, and Neji especially hates the Nain house members, like Hinata-chan."

"Yeah, he does seem to be a bit of a stuck-up bastard. I mean, fate? Come on. Still, what's there to worry about? She seems to be holding her own just fine"

"Yeah, seems to is the key word. I'm guessing you don't know anything about the Hyuuga fighting stye, jyuuken, so I'll just tell you that while it may seem that they're on even footing, all those little hits he's getting on her are affecting her much more than she's showing."

"Hmm, I do sense a good amount of chakra in each of their blows. It just seems strange to see you so unoptimistic about this."

"Unoptimistic? Not really. Neji's just on a different level from Hinata-chan right now, so unless she manages to surprise him, it's just like she said, a fight to show her improvement."

"That's strange. From what I can sense of their power levels, there isn't much of a gap."

Naruto sighed. "The thing about Hinata-chan is that she can never bring herself to fight all-out against someone she cares about. It seems to be more of a subconscious problem, and I've been trying o help her with it recently, but the results have been lacking."

At the exact same time, both fighters scored a direct hit on each other. Hinata and Neji both spat up blood. Then the older Hyuuga gasped. "H-how?" he asked in shock, "I sealed your tenketsus!"

"And Naruto-kun helped me figure out a way to unseal them," she responded, giving a happy glance to her smiling blonde.

Neji's expression turned to one of rage, and before his opponent could do anything more, he began to spin.

"**Kaiten"**

Up above, Naruto's face took on a pained expression as he saw the pale-eyed kunoichi get sent flying. "See what I mean? She could have taken advantage of his surprise and ended the fight right there, but she didn't."

Hinata was slowly struggling to her feet as her cousin walked over to her. "I will give you one more chance. Give up now, or I cannot guarantee that you will survive."

She was standing now. "I-I will never... ...take back... ...my words... ...That is my way of the ninja!"

Looking at the girl standing before him, shaking in pain, yet still trying to defy her fate, something in Neji snaped.

"**Hakke Rokujuyonsho"**

Naruto's eyes widened. That could kill her!

"Two strikes!"

"Four strikes!"

Without thinking about what he was doing, the blonde vaulted over the railing.

"Eight strikes!"

"Sixteen strikes"

He hit the floor and started running forward

"Thirty-two strikes!"

"Sixty-four stri-"

A fist to the side of the head interrupted Neji during the middle of the final barrage, sending him flying into the wall. Fortunately, Naruto had had enough self-control to keep from outright killing the older boy.

He knelt down in front of the Hyuuga heiress, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Hinata-chan, are you all right?" It was probably the stupidest thing he could have asked, as the girl was clearly not all right at all. Her heartbeat was erratic, and her breathing extremely shallow.

"Naruto-kun..." she murmered, slipping into unconsciousness.

"_Kyuubi! Heal her now or I will make you regret it for the rest of our very short life!_"

The fox, able to tell that her container was entirely serious, obliged swiftly, the demonic red chakra coursing through him and into the dying girl. In seconds, her heartbeat steadied and her breaths became calmer. Naruto relaxed, knowing that she was out of danger for the time being, as Hayate

announced Neji as the victor by disqualification.

Up in the stands, Arashi looked on greedily at the sight of the red chakra.

As the medics took Hinata away, the blonde went over to team 7's kunoichi. "Sakura, do you think you could go with them?" he asked, gesturing in the direction of the stretcher being carted away.

She looked puzzled. "Why? Hinata seems to be doing all right, after whatever you did that saved her life, so I doubt they'll need my help. And if I go, I'll miss your fight."

"But that's just it. The thing I did to save her I also did to save Haku back on the bridge. You're the only one with medical experience who knows the side-effects of that and how to treat them."

She saw the pleading look in his deep blue eyes. "All right, I'll go help them with Hinata. Just be sure to tell me about your fight after you win!"

He smiled at the pink-haired girl. "Of course!"

Then a voice spoke up from behind him. "Ah, but how do you know you'll win?"

He spun around to stare into Haruhi's hazel eyes. "I know I'll win because I believe I'll win. So, shall we do this?"

"Yeah, let's do it."

Both fighters walked to their respective starting positions and stood there, smiling at each other in anticipation. "Final match: Uzumaki Naruto -cough- versus..." Hayate realized that he didn't know Haruhi's clan name, so he turned to the board. And stared.

Finding the silence odd, everyone else looked at the board as well. Naruto's eyes widened.

The first name was his own, Uzumaki Naruto. The second was Uzumaki Haruhi.


	30. Chapter 30

**chapter 30**

**the joy of battle**

Haruhi looked over at her blonde relative with a sheepish grin, scratching the back of her neck nervously as he fixed her with an angry glare. "Surprise?"

The glare intensified. "WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!"

"Aww come on! If you weren't so thickheaded, you would've been able to figure it out by now."

Thinking back, she had hinted at their relationship several times over the past few days. Then Naruto remembered that first serious conversation they had had, at midnight on the tower roof. "So you're my cousin?"

Seeing that he was no longer angry, the kunoichi gave him a wide grin. "Yup! Your mom was my dad's sister, so that would make us cousins."

"Okay then, Haru-chan, so, I repeat, why the hell didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted to see the expression on your face when you found out."

The orange-clad shinobi growled in frustration at her attitude, before remembering just what was going on. "So, ready for me to kick your ass?" he asked his opponent, smiling in anticipation.

The hazel-eyed girl smiled back. "In your dreams, Naru-kun!"

Both Uzumakis drew their swords and stood across from one another, waiting for the fight to start. The audience stared on in anticipation; this was a battle none of them wanted to miss. Especially one man most of the room's occupants believed dead, currently disguised as a clown.

"Final match: Uzumaki Naruto versus Uzumaki Haruhi, begin!" Hayate immediately leapt back, knowing from the sheer chakra pressure he felt that he didn't want to be caught anywhere near when these two clashed.

Naruto was using the brief fraction of a second he had to assess what little he knew of the kunoichi's abilities. Seeing that the only time he had seen her in action was just under an hour ago, when both of them had moved to save Hinata-chan from her teammate, he really didn't have much to go on. Based on how quickly she had been moving, she had a good deal of speed, but the blonde was slightly faster. On the other hand, the force with which she had throw the fuuma shuriken proved that she had the advantage when it came to physical strength. His best bet was to stretch the fight out, as his insanely large chakra reserves would ensure that he lasted longer than his opponent.

Naruto and Haruhi met in the middle of the room, her katana, which she was currently wielding with both hands, meeting against his giant blades. The blonde let the superior force in his opponent's attack move him into a pivot, attaching his left foot to the ground with chakra while he let his right swing free.

Not expecting him to give way so easily, Haruhi was slightly overbalanced, leaving her unable to avoid the spinning kick to her side. The blow sent her crashing into the wall just left of the doors, where she made a small crater in the wall. "Heh. First hit," said the blonde smugly.

The hazel-eyed girl gave him a grin. "You're gonna have to hit harder than that if you want to win this, Naru-kun!"

Figuring that she had already been spying on him training, Naruto guessed that she already knew most of his abilities, so he didn't hesitate to release a burst of wind from the sword in his right hand as he swung it horizontally, forcing her to jump over the invisible attack that would have otherwise cut her in half. Meanwhile, he tossed his left blade into the air, then used the free hand to grab and throw four shuriken at the airborne kunoichi. Then, letting go of his other sword, he made several handseals in a flash.

"**Shuriken Kage Bushin no Jutsu"**

As the four flying weapons turned into forty, his hands shot out to regrab his swords before gravity let either hit the floor.

Haruhi, faced with impending death from the multiplying metal, immediately threw her katana straight downward, then performed a kawarimi with the blade, putting herself out of danger. Taking advantage of her momentary loss of her weapon, Naruto rushed in and made a swipe at her chest with one sword, while keeping the other back for defense.

In response, Haruhi actually punched the flat of the blade with a swift uppercut before it reached her. The sheer force of the unexpected punch was enough to jerk the blonde's arm upward, the sword hitting nothing. Her other hand reached up to grab her own sword, and she proceeded straight into a downwards chop, making him move the other sword to block.

Again utilizing her superior strength, the second sword was forced downward, leaving Naruto completely open to her forward kick to the stomach. Thanks to his awkward position, all he had time to do was shift backwards slightly to reduce the impact force and shield the area with chakra.

This time, it was his turn to fly across the room and make a crater in the base of the huge statue at the back. "Ouch! Well, you certainly hit hard." This was an understatement; had it not been for the extra chakra reinforcement, he would have a foot inside his stomach. As it was, his abdomen hurt like hell, but pain was something Naruto had long ago become accustomed to. And thanks to his healing abilities, the damage was already starting to fade.

Since they were now a good distance apart, Haruhi returned her katana to her back and began making handseals. Seeing this, the blonde sheathed his own weapons and followed suit.

Up in the balcony, everyone was watching with rapt attention. Those who hadn't seen either examinee fight before had expressions of shock and awe on their faces. This was the kind of battle one would expect to see between jonin or especially skilled chunin, not a pair of young genin! Naruto's friends were likewise surprised, but more because none of them had ever before seen their blonde friend so evenly matched. The only people talking were Gai and Lee, both of whom were cheering something about youth at the top of their loud voices.

Haruhi finished her seals first.

"**Raiton: Rairyudan no Jutsu"** (lightning element: lightning dragon bullet technique)

A giant mass of arcing electricity in the shape of a dragon bore down with unavoidable speed and precision on Naruto, who was extremely glad he had chosen a wind jutsu.

"**Fuuton: Kitaeru Kaze Dangan no Jutsu"** (wind element: drilling wind bullet technique)

It was the same jutsu he had used against Orochimaru's summoned snake back in the Forest of Death, but the blonde put far less chakra into it this time, to keep from possibly destroying the tower. The spinning winds dispersed the lightning dragon in an instant as they sped towards the kunoichi.

"**Katon: Guokakyu no Jutsu"**

Smart choice, Naruto analyzed, as the guokakyu didn't have too high of a chakra cost, and his own wind jutsu would supply the fireball with more than enough power to burn him alive. He didn't know any water jutsu, and it was too close to evade, leaving him only one option.

"**Raiton: Rairyudan no Jutsu"** (lightning element: lightning dragon bullet technique)

Haruhi's curiosity was piqued on hearing the jutsu name. That hadn't been the right handseal sequence for the rairyudan...

But nevertheless, a rairyudan it was, though noticeably different from the one she had performed not moments ago. For one thing, while hers had been made up of hundreds of individual lightning bolts, each crackling and sparking separately, Naruto's dragon was a single solid mass of blue-white light. On top of that, the thing was enormous, about four to five times the size of the earlier lightning jutsu.

Seeing the sheer size of the lightning beast, most of the spectators gasped in shock. It just wasn't possible to put that much chakra into a jutsu without overloading it completely. What they didn't know was that Naruto enjoyed fiddling with the jutsu he knew and had found a way to remove the chakra limit, though it was extremely complicated and had to be done in a unique way for each and every jutsu. In fact, his kage bushins had only just figured out how to do this for the rairyuudan earlier that very day.

The impossibly large lightning dragon had blocked the fireball as thou it was nothing, and charged down onto the kunoichi, who had no chance of evading. When the blonde felt nothing but calm confidence radiating off of her, though, he began to get nervous and started to gather as much wind chakra as he could, in case she had something up her sleeve.

What Haruhi had up her sleeve was a kunai, but she didn't use it. No, she removed her sword from her back and held it out in front of her, where the blade then absorbed the entire jutsu and started to spark with the massive amount of stored electrical energy. She smirked, before pointing the blade straight at her opponent's chest.

All Naruto had time to do was gather all the wind chakra in a shield in front of his chest while thinking "_fuck_" before the full force of his own radically overpowered lightning jutsu was sent straight back at him in a single concentrated bolt. Luckily for him, lightning jutsu rarely, if ever, actually physically moved their target, or else he would have been blasted clear out of the tower. No, they tended to fry one's insides while simultaneously paralyzing them.

Needless to say, the ramen-loving genin was in some of the worst pain he had ever felt in his life and was unable to even move to scream as he so badly felt the need to. Were it not for the dense wind chakra shield he had created at the last second taking much of the force out of the attack, there was no doubt he would now be dead.

Still, as he looked at Haru-chan bent over panting from the effort of redirecting his superpowered rairyuudan, Naruto realized that he was having the most fun he'd ever had in his life. The sheer joy of pitting his determination, skills, wits, strength, everything he was, against her as she did the same was the most wonderful feeling he'd ever experienced, excluding the pure outpouring of love he had felt from his mother the night he was born.

Blue eyes locked on to hazel, and each saw the clear excitement and happiness in the other. The two battling genin smiled at each other again.

"You're right! This _is_ fun!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Ha! I told you it would be, Naru-kun!"

"Yeah, the only problem is that if we keep tossing out big jutsus, it won't last much longer."

The kunoichi nodded in understanding, also wanting to keep the match going as long as possible. "Close range combat for a while?"

"Sounds good to me!" The blonde smirked, before making a familiar cross-shaped handseal and using his favorite jutsu. Four kage bushins poofed into existence around him, before five orange blurs charged towards Haruhi.

They had come to a silent understanding to leave out the swords for the time being, so the Naruto clones came at her, each from a different direction, each one aiming a powerful punch. However, Haruhi was not about to get caught in such an obvious attack, as she let the hidden kunais in her sleeves drop into her hands and threw them at the two coming from the front.

At such close range, the bushins were unable to dodge and were destroyed. Her fists then shot backwards to take care of the two behind her, but they had been expecting this. Taking advantage of the fact that she couldn't actually see them, each twisted to the side and grabbed one of her outstretched arms then hurled her straight upward.

While hurtling through the air, the kunoichi managed to flip herself around and collide with the ceiling feet first. Even as she felt the stone cracking and crumbling under the force of the impact, she was already pushing off with her legs, aiming diagonally downwards in the direction of the real Naruto.

The Konoha genin swiftly leapt backwards to avoid the chakra-enhanced punch that tore up the floor in a three yard radius around the point of impact. His opponent then immediately ran at him, and the Uzumakis engaged in a rapid taijutsu exchange, throwing and dodging blows at blurring speeds.

Leaning to the side of a punch, Naruto grinned at her. "Y'know, I think I'm winning here. We've both hurt each other twice so far, but I've got a bigger chakra capacity as well as more stamina." While speaking, he had thrown a kick at her side, which the hazel-eyed girl had blocked with her forearm. Both fighters were using chakra to keep attached to the floor, with the strength of the attacks they were making being more than enough to send something as light as a human being flying away.

Using her other fist for a series of swift jabs, each of which was stopped by the blonde's chakra-reinforced forearms, she gave him an expression of mock anger. "Well you must be in some alternate reality, Naru-kun, because I'm definitely better off than you right now!" Saying this, she used the back of her hand to divert a punch aimed for her face.

Just like last time, both simultaneously decided to change tactics once more, bringing the swords back into play as the sound of metal striking metal rang out around the room. Most of the observing genin could make out nothing more than vague blurs of silver between the two, coupled with sparks from the friction between the clashing blades.

Naruto, deciding to take a risk, swung his swords horizontally in an unavoidable crisscrossing motion, one at shoulder height, the other down lower, aiming for her midsection. Seeing the danger she was in, the orangeish-red-haired kunoichi threw herself backwards, barely escaping and receiving a shallow cut across her chest. Seeing the wide opening he had just given her, she threw her katana at her opponent's chest.

The blonde was too close to dodge completely and couldn't get his swords in position to block in time. He threw himself to the side, twisting sharply in midair. The result was that the flying blade managed to make a painful gash straight across his stomach. Turning his hasty jump into a handspring, Naruto landed on his feet only to see his cousin coming down out of mid-leap straight on top of him, chakra-enhanced fist cocked back for an earth-shattering punch, exactly as she had done not a minute before. The only difference was that, this time, he didn't have time to dodge.

So Naruto did the next best thing. Namely, blocking. Letting go of his swords, his arms were instantly in front of his body in an X shape, prepared to intercept the blow. In the limited amount of time he had, he sent as much chakra as he could to his forearms and, to a lesser extent the rest of his body, to strengthen the bones so as to keep them from shattering.

When the punch connected, he could feel his entire body tremble as his knees bent under the insane pressure. But, even as the force of the blow passed through him and into the floor, making huge cracks that stretched out in all directions around his feet, he managed to stay standing. Ignoring the extreme pain still shooting through his bones, Naruto pushed his arms upward where the kunoichi's fist still rested against them.

Since Haruhi had put her entire body into the punch, the result was that she was flung back up into the air and traveled in an arc before landing several yards away. Then the boy dashed at her and began a nonstop series of punches, kicks, elbow strikes, knees, attacking from every direction in every way possible, making use of his superior speed to keep her on the defensive.

But her reflexes and reaction time were fast enough to keep any serious blows from getting through. The people up above watched in awe as the blonde kept up his relentless offensive for over fifteen minutes, never once showing any sign of slowing down or tiring, and their collective though was one of just how the hell he could keep going for so long. In Haruhi, however, the building fatigue was obvious in the increased sloppiness of her movements and the way she was barely managing to avoid the attacks.

Then Naruto managed to get a good hit in when he threw himself into a missed punch, contorting himself so the arm he had just attacked with was supporting him in a one-handed handstand and his legs were where his arm had been. Thrusting straight out with both feet, he was able to deal a powerful to her stomach, sending her soaring once more toward the ceiling, this time at an angle.

Her point of impact, coincidentally enough, was directly above her "sensei." This time, she had flown too fast to reorient herself properly, and so crashed into the ceiling back first. As she fell, she gabbed onto the balcony railing and swung herself back into the combat area. Dust and tiny pieces of destroyed stone followed her down, settling on Arashi, his colorful hair, and the stunningly green coat. He turned to his loyal underling Sora.

"Ahem! There's DUST on my boots!" The boy had a wide-eyed look of panic momentarily, before swiftly moving to obey the unspoken order to clean said boots or die painfully.

Haruhi was panting heavily as she stared into the determined deep blue eyes of a boy she had cared for his entire life, even though they had never met until just a few days ago. Both just stood there, still smiling in sheer joy at the feeling of the adrenaline pumping through them. She knew she couldn't keep this up for much longer. Hazel eyes and blue looked into each other for nearly ten full seconds, expressing themselves through sheer emotion in a way that would never have been possible with words.

Then, as one, the last two Uzumakis dashed forward, both preparing for a straight punch with their right fist while the left hand stayed ready to stop their opponent's punch.

As he charged at his cousin, Naruto forced what he knew to be far beyond save levels of chakra into his major muscle groups. The chakra overload would soon cause serious damage to his own body, but he needed to be able to match her strength, if only momentarily. And besides, he had a plan.

They met, evenly matched, right fist pointed to their opponent's face while the left hand gripped tightly around the other's right forearm, stopping the punch's momentum. The two fighters stood there locked in a struggle of strength and determination. And that was when Haruhi felt something she hadn't expected happen.

Since both of them were Uzumakis, both of them were wearing the special chakra-reactive clothes of the Uzumaki clan. And since both had Uzumaki blood, they were able to affect each other's clothes if in direct contact to them. Naruto was now using his grip on the kunoichi's forearm to channel massive amounts of his own chakra into her clothes, completely overriding the relatively miniscule amount she had running through them. And all this chakra was being put towards the purpose of increasing the weight of the clothes.

The result was that Haruhi's shirt and pants went from weighing what one would expect clothes to weigh to several hundred tons in a instant. Needless to say, she immediately crashed to the floor under the ridiculous weight.

Naruto, knowing that it would take a few seconds for her to force out the chakra he had pushed into her garments, immediately began forming the handseals for his newest original jutsu, the one he had been discussing with Sakura the day before the Chunin Exams had begun.

"**Ramen Shibari no Jutsu"** (ramen binding technique)

The only people not laughing at the sheer absurdity of the name were Naruto, who had of course come up with said name in the first place, Sakura, who had already laughed at it earlier, Chouji, to whom food was no laughing matter, Gaara, who just plain didn't laugh, and Haruhi, who held the noodles and soup in the same sacred view as her cousin did.

The effects of the jutsu were that out of the blonde's hands shot what looked exactly like multiple insanely long ramen noodles. The ramen noodles wrapped tightly around Haruhi's entire body, binding her arms to her sides and her legs together. Then the noodles immediately began to soak up the kunoichi's chakra in the same way that real ramen noodles would soak up soup. They were even dripping what looked and even smelled like miso soup onto the floor With her own chakra supplying the energy for the bindings, Haruhi was unable to free herself.

Hayate, once his mixture of laughing and coughing had subsided, realized the position the match was in. "Winner: Uzumaki Naruto."

As loud cheering erupted from his friends at the rather odd conclusion, Naruto went through more handseals for the follow-up part of his ramen shibari no jutsu. He had actually invented two different follow-ups, one of which would kill the trapped target, while the other, which he was currently using, was, in his ramen-obsessed mind, the awesomest jutsu in the world, even if it did take over half of his enormous chakra supply to execute

"**Dekai Ramen Isseki no Jutsu"** (huge ramen feast technique)

After calling out the jutsu name, he expelled an insanely large amount of chakra, on a level that no one in the room except Arashi had a hope of matching. The chakra quickly solidified into the largest ramen bowl anyone had ever seen, as well as soup, meat, naruto... everything one could want in a bowl of ramen excluding the noodles themselves. Those, obviously enough, came from where they were wrapped around Haruhi, letting the kunoichi go as both they and the droplets of soup were drawn to the giant ramen bowl.

Naruto, panting heavily after the massive chakra expenditure, looked over the top of the four-foot deep bowl of deliciousness at his cousin. "Hey... ...Haru-chan... ...Want some... ...ramen?" He grinned at her.

His fellow ramen addict stopped staring in awe at the giant bowl long enough to grin back. "Sure! Thanks, Naru-kun!" He tossed her a pair of chopsticks, and they both walked over to the ramen bowl, preparing to break apart their chopsticks and start eating.

That was when it happened.

Naruto felt a flash of Arashi's dark chakra and saw a seal appear on his cousin's forehead.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The scream that ripped from the blonde's throat was a mixture of sadness, rage, grief, anger, and helplessness all rolled into one. He knew what that seal on her forehead was the instant it appeared: a remote-activated killing seal, and one that could not be tampered with between activation and death in time to save the victim.

Every single person who had known Uzumaki Naruto was in a state of shock. To hear a sound like that coming from the ever-optimistic, determined, energetic, orange blob of joy, fun, and laughter was something they had believed to be truly impossible.

And then he was crying, for the first time in over two years. He simply fell to his knees and began to sob, shaking in helplessness at the thought that someone who had become so important to him so quickly was about to die, and there was absolutely nothing he could do to prevent it.

Haruhi was at his side in an instant, wrapping her arms around him and holding him tight in comfort. "Shh. Don't cry now Naru-kun. I knew this was going to happen, and you know what? I couldn't care less. That fight we just had... I can die happy having had a fight like that." Letting some of her calmness seep into himself, the tears stopped, and the blonde looked up at her, clear blue eyes still wet.

"Y-yeah. It w-was a great f-fight. Thanks, Haru-chan."

She smiled warmly at her cousin. "You're welcome. Anyway, if I understand this seal right, I've still got about five minutes, correct?"

Naruto was regaining his composure swiftly with her aid. "Yes. Really closer to five-and-a-half." He glanced toward the balcony. "Heh, looks like Arashi-teme decided to scamper."

She followed his gaze. "Not much of a surprise. If he'd stayed, he probably would have had to fight his way out of Konoha, and then all the Shinobi Nations would realize just how dangerous he is and unite against him. But enough about that bastard. I've got two things here that I want to give you, Naru-kun."

The hazel-eyed girl used her right hand to take her katana off her back and held it out hilt first, while the left dug into the pack at her side and came out with a scroll. Had time not been a pressing issue, the blonde would definitely have protested, but as it was he settled for accepting the gifts with a bow and a "Thank you very much, Haru-chan."

The older girl smacked him on the back of his head. "Hey, stop that! Besides, as the last of the Uzumaki clan, they belong to you now, anyway. The sword's been passed down through our family for generations, and the scroll contains information on the clan taijutsu style, or lack thereof." She saw his confused expression at the last bit. "You'll see when you read it. Just promise me that you'll kill Sora-teme soon and Arashi-teme someday."

They looked at each other seriously. "I promise."

Once the boy had put the scroll away and the sword to the side, Haruhi asked, "So, how long have I got left?"

The answer was spoken all in one breath, so quickly that even many shinobi wouldn't have been able to understand it. "Fourmiutesfortyninesecondsandtwentyfourhundredthsofasecond."

She laughed at his antics, while noting that he had in fact managed to say all that in less than a hundredth of a second. "Wanna see if we can finish this ramen before my time's up?"

He grinned, before both ninjas simultaneously turned to the giant ramen bowl and broke their chopsticks in half and took in a deep breath before shouting at the tops of their voices "IDATAKIMASU!!" The entire village heard it, and woodland creatures for miles around scattered at the sound of human voices. Luckily for those in the room, they had seen this coming and those who had witnessed their previous shouting matches warned those who didn't so all the genin, jonin, and the Hokage were able to temporarily disable their sense of hearing with chakra.

The ramen-loving pair ferociously attacked the bowl of their favorite dish. Their chopsticks little more than blurs, Naruto somehow managed to speak, perfectly clearly, around a mouth overflowing with noodles. "Wanna see who can eat more?"

Haruhi answered back, equally as mysteriously clearly, "You're on!"

The two became little more than blurs as they dashed around the bowl to get at the delicious noodles and toppings. After getting all they easily could from the edges, they actually leapt into the bowl, Naruto submerging himself in the soup while Haruhi used water-walking (or soup-walking, as the case may be) to stay afloat and eat off the surface. It took them almost three minutes to devour all the noodles and toppings, then both leapt back to the ground, Naruto using chakra to shed himself dry of soup. It just wouldn't do for there to be leftover soup clinging to his body and clothes.

Standing next to one another, they shared a glance before jointly wrapping their arms around the bowl and lifting it, tilting it back to drain the soup into their wide-open mouths.

When the bowl was finally drained, the two Uzumakis looked at one another, gasping for breath. Blue eyes and hazel stared into each other. "Tie." both said at the same moment, then burst out laughing. The sound was infectious, and the room was soon ringing with the laughter of many voices.

Once the merriment subsided, Haruhi gave her cousin a serious look. "Naruto, thank you. This has ben the best day of my life."

"You're welcome, Haruhi."

Then she... exploded from the inside out. It wasn't really an explosion, as nothing but her own body was affected. One moment, she was standing there smiling, the next her clothes and ninja gear were falling to the ground, soaked in blood. The immediate area, as well as much of Naruto, was coated in the deep red liquid.

He turned around to pick up her still-spotless katana and strapped it to his back. At the moment, he wasn't sure of very much, but he did know one thing. As long as he lived, he would never, ever forget Uzumaki Haruhi.


	31. Chapter 31

**chapter 31**

**parting gifts**

After the preliminaries ended, Naruto, not quite ready to leave yet, went back to the room he had been staying in at the tower and sat on his bed. Once he was comfortably situated, he finally let his mind take in everything that had happened that day.

Haruhi. Shino. Hinata-chan. If the blonde were the kind of person to cry often, he would be a broken heap on the floor right now, but he had realized long ago that tears of sadness never truly helped anything. Not to say he didn't feel grief at the passing of his friends. Not at all. In fact, with the way he was feeling right now, he wouldn't have reacted or cared even if someone came up on him and stabbed him with a kunai.

Had anyone seen the normally happy, smiling boy, a single look into his deep blue eyes would be all that was needed to figure out his emotional state. The aura of sadness they exuded was like a physical force that spread about the room, making everything seem darker.

He just sat there for several hours, letting himself work through the worst of his grief and his worry about Hinata-chan. Naruto had experienced loss before, of course. He had lost his mother. He had lost Toshiro and Akkio. In a way, he even felt sad over Zabuza's death. And now Shino and Haruhi were gone as well. Anyone who said it got easier to deal with loss after growing more accustomed to it was an idiot.

In that way, it was, strangely enough, like killing. No matter how many people he had killed over the past several years, the blonde always hated himself whenever he did it. It wasn't that he really felt sorry for any of them; he only killed those who truly deserved it, people who had chosen to sink so far into their evil ways that there was no longer any hope for them. But the act of permanently removing a soul from the world, deserving or not, just felt _wrong_. He would never understand people like Sora and the recently-deceased Hikaru who killed for pleasure.

But Shino and Haruhi. It just wasn't fair! Those two hadn't deserved to die, and definitely not like that. Especially Shino. He hadn't even had a chance to say goodbye to the people he cared about. Haruhi had at last gotten to have what she had always dreamed of, but Shino... He had still had so much to live for, so many insects to find and raise, his dreams to fulfill. No, Shino hadn't been ready for death at all.

"**Well then, why not take revenge on his killer? Tear the boy into pieces so that even he can't recover? I'll help."** The Kyuubi was smiling as she attempted to inspire her container's more violent impulses. Unfortunately for her, Naruto was in no mood for either violence or the demon kitsune.

Not bothering to say a word, he went into his mind, walked over to the cage, stared into the red, hate-filled eyes, and used his shinkagan to make the ox experience just what he was going through at the moment. Then he returned to his body and thoughts, ignoring both the mental and physical screams of his prisoner.

It was about a half-hour later that there was a knock on his door. "Come in."

The blonde wouldn't have been surprised at the man walking over to his bed even if he had been in a state of mind where surprise was possible. After all, who more likely to give him comfort than the first person he had ever comforted. "Hello, Iruka-oniisan."

"Hello Naruto. How are you holding up?"

"As well as can be expected. It never gets any easier, does it?" the blonde decided to voice his earlier thought.

The look in his big brother's eyes answered the question better than the words did. "No. No it doesn't."

They sat next to one another in silence for several minutes. "Shino wasn't ready to die."

The chunin gave his little brother a serious look. "No one's ever ready to die, Naruto."

"Haruhi was," was the simple response.

The silence stretched on for several more minutes.

The older male was the one to break it this time. "You know, as a shinobi, while he may not have been ready, he was prepared."

Naruto spent several more minutes puzzling over that statement. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Thank you."

"It's what I'm here for, Naruto."

The blonde smiled slightly for the first time in what felt like years. "Oniisan, could you stay here with me for a while?"

"You don't even have to ask."

* * *

_beep beep beep beep beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep_

Sakura was at Konoha hospital, helping a team of doctors with Hinata.

"Search her chakra system! Check for any irregularities! And get someone skilled with lightning jutsu in here in case her heart stops!" Her instructions were swiftly carried out as the pink-haired girl, despite being the most junior med nin present, was the only one with any experience dealing with the Hyuuga heiress's condition.

She mentally cursed Naruto for putting her in this position as she also stepped up next to the unconscious girl, hands glowing green. "_Don't you go dying on us as well, Hinata. Shino was already too much._"

A minute later, they managed to stabilize the pale-eyed girl's heartbeat.

* * *

Sasuke was slowly making his way back to the empty Uchiha compound. He needed to spend this month training. If he had learned anything from the preliminaries, it was that he was weak, and that was unacceptable.

That Kabuto had beaten him so easily. Even Sakura, the weakest member of their team, had managed to win her fight fairly, while he had been forced to take advantage of his opponent's slip-up. And then there had been Naruto's fight. The black-eyed boy had long ago accepted that the blonde was stronger than him. But he had never really realized just how big the gap was, and it infuriated him. How did that dobe get so much power?!

The sharp pain in his neck brought the Uchiha out of his angry thoughts. The coming fights would be interesting, there was no doubt about that. He'd be up against that Suna kunoichi in the first round, then, judging by what he knew of the strengths of the fighters, he would be up against Lee next, followed by Gaara and, if he managed to win that one, finally Naruto.

"Yo." The Uchiha spun around quickly in surprise, having not sensed anyone behind him.

"Hello, Kakashi. What are you doing here?"

The man gave that infuriating lazy eye-smile. "Oh, nothing much. Just came by to see if you'd be interested in a month of one-on-one training before the finals."

This was perfect! Sasuke had to work to keep the excitement out of his voice. "Sure. When do we start?"

"Right away. Follow me, Sasuke."

* * *

"YOSH! GOOD WORK, MY YOUTHFUL STUDENTS! YOU HAVE ALL MADE IT TO THE FINALS OF THIS EXAM OF YOUTH! BUT BE WARNED, BECAUSE YOUR OPPONENTS WILL ALSO BE IN THE SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH!" Maito Gai had taken his team to their training grounds as soon as the preliminaries had ended.

His miniature self leapt forward, hair and teeth shining in the afternoon sun. "YES, GAI-SENSEI! WE UNDERSTAND AND WILL USE THIS MONTH TO TRAIN IN YOUTHFUL PREPARATION!"

"WELL SAID, LEE. A TRULY YOUTHFUL IDEA!" He gave his patented Nice Guy Pose to his favorite pupil.

Neji decided to interrupt the youthful shouting before the other two members of team Gai went deaf. "Hmph. What's the point of training? The results of our matches have already been decided."

The final member glared at the Hyuuga. She may have a crush on him, but when he got like this... "We don't know for sure. Besides, I need to train and get better with my new toy so I can use it in the finals."

"It doesn't matter. Even with that thing, you will not be able to defeat me."

She stared at him, eyes wide in disbelief. "Neji, did you even watch the last fight? You don't stand a chance against Naruto, and you're up against him right away!"

He returned her look with his usual arrogant manner. "He is powerful, but the kaiten and byakugan cannot be defeated."

"Neji. What have I taught you about putting too much faith into your natural talents?" A stern Gai was a rare sight. He immediately returned to normal, however. "YOSH! LEE, LET US WORK ON ADDING YOUR NEWFOUND ABILITY TO USE CHAKRA INTO YOUR TAIJUTSU!"

"YES, GAI-SENSEI!"

* * *

Shikamaru sat alone in his room, puzzling over the day's events. In specific the recent battle of one Uzumaki Naruto and everything surrounding it. For him to have ended up facing his own cousin, someone he hadn't even known existed, and for them to be so evenly matched... It just wasn't right.

In fact, something seemed off about the whole thing. Many of the matchups had been too convenient to be pure chance. Three fights between two members of the same clan? The chances were infinitesimally small. Now that he thought about it, not one of the Ame genin had seemed surprised at their opponents, and there was no way to deny that something was wrong with the jonin sensei.

Then there was Haruhi's death. Shikamaru himself had dabbled in seals out of pure boredom one day, and he could tell that a seal like the one that had been on the kunoichi was something only a master of fuinjutsu could have done. And it would have had to have been placed well beforehand, as well. Coupled with his mysterious disappearance, the only possible culprit was that freaky clown jonin.

Oh well. It was too troublesome to think of things like that right now. He had a month to relax and watch the clouds. His mom would probably insist that he train some, and his dad had promised to teach him a new jutsu soon, but the lazy genius had already decided what he'd do in his match. From what he could tell about Gaara, his chances of winning were completely nonexistent, but all he'd need to do to keep his mom happy was to make chunin. So he'd do just well enough to impress the judges, then forfeit. Pretty simple.

* * *

"What are my orders, Arashi-sama?" Sora asked the still-disguised man across the hotel room.

"Continue as planned. Kill Orochimaru's pawn, then push the Kyuubi jinchuriki as far as you can. I want you to force him to draw on the demon's power."

The purple-eyed boy bowed. "Understood, Arashi-sama." He smiled at the fun he would have with that pretty little Oto girl before he killed her.

* * *

"Damn that fucking bastard!" Kiba beat the training log in front of him relentlessly. "I swear I'm gonna... ...kill him for what he did to Shino!" He continued the fierce assault. Akamaru yipped, reminding him of just who he'd have to get through first. "Yeah well... ...Tenten shouldn't be... ...too hard... ...and I don't care... ...how strong Naruto is... ...I'll find some way... ...to win!"

He finally broke off his demolishing of the log, having run completely out of breath. The Inuzuka stood there panting for several minutes, then resumed his self-enforced extra training. He _would_ kill that bastard Sora.

* * *

The Sand siblings sat in their hotel room with their sensei.

"But Baki-sensei! Surely there's some other way to settle this!" shouted Temari.

"Believe me," he responded, "I, too would much rather avoid war. But those are Kazekage-sama's orders."

"Will it complicate matters, for me to be in the audience when the plan starts?" Kankuro asked worriedly.

"No. Just watch for the signal and be ready to act."

Gaara was standing quietly to one side. "I don't care what happens, as long as Mother gets her blood."

* * *

Kin was smiling. She was happy to be the only member of her team to continue on. Dosu was an overconfident idiot, and Zaku was just plain an idiot. Plus, she'd get to fight that Ame boy right away. It would be fun getting back at him for that comment on kunoichi.

Hopefully, she wouldn't have to wait long before the invasion began. The idea of having to fight that blonde boy was... not so pleasant.

* * *

Naruto found his way to the hospital, wanting to check on Hinata-chan. Before even making it as far as the front desk, though, he saw a head of pink hair. "Sakura!"

Team 7's kunoichi looked over at the shout. "Keep your voice down, idiot. We're in a hospital. So, how did your fight go?"

There was a momentary flash of pain across his face at the thought of how it had all ended. "I won; tell you the details later. How's Hinata-chan?"

This time it was the kunoichi's turn to look downcast. "She's stable, but she's gone into a coma. No knowing when she'll wake, and we've got to keep her under twenty-four hour surveillance, in case that weird chakra starts to act up again. And no visitors allowed right now."

"I see," the blonde said glumly, almost wishing he hadn't asked for the fox's help with the healing. "Oh, just so you know, the final round of the Chunin Exams will take place in one month. Your first match is against Fuzzy-brows."

On hearing that she would be fighting the taijutsu specialist, Sakura paled slightly. "L-Lee? But I won't stand a chance against someone with speed like his!"

"Oops! I almost forgot to mention: promotions are based on how you fight, not wether you win or loose." He gave her his wide grin. :Anyway, since I can't see Hinata-chan, I'm gonna go get some ramen. Wanna come?"

She gave the blonde an appreciative look. "Sure. I don't have to do anything at the moment. Hey, maybe you could tell me about your fight with that girl while we eat."

* * *

"So, Haruhi was your cousin?" she asked, after hearing the story.

"Yeah." Naruto barely paused in his ramen intake.

"And now she's dead?"

"Yeah."

"Oh Naruto, I'm so s-"

"_Don't_ say you're sorry. I don't want pity, and neither would Haru-chan." The look he gave sent a brief chill down the kunoichi's spine.

Sakura decided to steer the conversation towards safer topics. "So, have you taken a look at that scroll she gave you yet?"

"No," he said, after swallowing another mouthful, "I was going to do that as soon as I finished here."

The med-nin in training was slightly disgusted by the sheer amount of noodles he was consuming. And that was on top of the giant bowl he had shared with Haruhi. Yet he still managed to stay so very fit; her eyes were involuntarily drawn to his chest and arms, the outlines of the muscles easily visible through his clothing.

"So, what kind of training do you think I should do for the next month?"

He looked over at the girl, grinning. "Would probably be best to focus on speed and strength. if you don't get those up a good bit, Fuzzy-brows will pound you into the ground before you get a chance. If you want, I can make a kage bushin every day for encouragement and direction."

"That sounds good, but every day? I need to keep working on my medical jutsu, too."

Naruto's expression suddenly turned serious. "Sakura, you saw what Kabuto-teme did to Sasuke. Do you really want to keep training under a guy like that? Plus, if you ant to see significant enough results, you'll have to work damn hard each and every day. In fact, I want you to go ahead and double your weight seals, right now."

With a bit of grumbling, the pink-haired kunoichi did as told, simultaneously adjusting her chakra output to keep the stool she was sitting on from breaking due to the additional weight.

"Good. I'll send a kage bushin over to your house tomorrow morning at five to start your training. Right now, though, I'm going to head home to look over this scroll before starting my own training. See you tomorrow, Sakura." So saying, he paid for his eighteen bowls of ramen and left.

* * *

The scroll contained a good deal of information about taijutsu as it concerned the Uzumaki clan. For one thing, it explained that Uzumakis had a sort of mutation that kept their bodies from learning anything their minds did not fully comprehend. Well, that explained why he'd never been able to learn any taijutsu. If it didn't make sense to him to stand in a certain way, his muscle memory wouldn't come into play.

It then went on to say that each member of the clan had to personally invent their own style, completely from scratch, suited specifically to them. On reading this, Naruto profusely thanked whatever genius had invented the kage bushin no jutsu. If he put all his chakra into the jutsu, he could make about seven thousand clones. With that many of him working together, he'd have the Uzumaki Naruto taijutsu style perfected in a week.

Of course, about two thirds of that time would be recovery from the mental backlash of what he had dubbed "information overflow." It was basically the result of using too many clones on one task, resulting in more information than the brain could handle coming in on dispelling them. He had discovered this limiting problem soon after learning the jutsu itself and had always been careful to never have more than a few hundred bushins working on one thing at one time. But if he wanted to invent a taijutsu style, a few hundred simply wouldn't be enough.

Naruto, seeing that there was more, continued reading. The final part was, in the blonde's mind, awesome beyond belief. Apparently, Uzumakis had a stronger connection to their elemental affinities than most ninja. And using their elemental chakra to enhance their body, instead of regular chakra, produced much more noticeable improvements, depending on the element.

For example, regular chakra can be used to enhance a ninja's speed and strength, toughen their body to lessen damage, increase reaction time, and allow the ninja to spread out or concentrate the damage of a single blow, either dealt by them or to them.

The problem was that it required a massive amount of chakra to produce effective results, and one part of the body could only take so much chakra at once before beginning to break down. But Uzumakis had an advantage in that they could, say, use just a little bit of earth-natured chakra and make their bodies just as resistant as someone overloading themselves with regular chakra. Enough earth-natured chakra concentrated to one place, and even a wind chakra enhanced kunai wouldn't be able to penetrate the skin.

Granted, this took an extremely high degree of chakra control, especially moreso when one got to putting in larger amounts of chakra. But still, it was extremely exciting, especially since Naruto knew he had the potential for an affinity towards all five elements. Fire natured chakra resulted in a massive increase in physical strength, something he realized Haruhi must have used to her advantage. Lightning drastically improved reaction time and reflexes, another thing he had noted as being exceptional in his cousin. Wind was speed; as his primary element, the blonde decided to test this one right away and was not disappointed. He could now cover the distance between his apartment and Ichiraku Ramen in just under a second, while it had previously taken him three. Water-natured chakra allowed the impact of a physical blow to be directed to a far greater degree than what an ordinary ninja could manage, extremely useful for both defensive and offensive purposes. And finally earth, as mentioned above, enhanced the hardening of the body.

He'd definitely have to incorporate these elemental advantages, or at least the two he could currently use, into his taijutsu style. The only downside was that he would have to alter the style as he gained more control of his elemental affinities.

Naruto noticed that it was getting late and decided to go to bed. While laying down, he though over the day's events, and for some reason his mind just wouldn't let him stop thinking about just how much fun that battle with Haru-chan had been. If only every fight could be like that... Hmm, maybe he could create some kind of seal system that would limit his abilities and let him fight one of his friends without holding back, while still having an exciting match... He'd think more on that in the morning; a seal that could do something like that well would be ridiculously hard to make, and there were so many complications... Sleep now, save thinking for the morning.


	32. Chapter 32

**chapter 32**

**Jiraya**

Eight days had passed since the preliminaries for the final round of the Chunin Exams. Naruto, with the help of his army of kage bushins, had invented his personal taijutsu style after three full days of thinking and experimentation.

What he had come up with was something that took advantage of his most outstanding quality: namely, his unpredictability. There were over forty distinct responses to choose from for something as simple as a straight fist to the gut, ranging from a simple block to actually leaping onto the opponent's arm.

The basic principle of the Uzumaki Naruto style of taijutsu was to do whatever the opponent would never expect. This included things like purposely getting hit and even occasionally ignoring obvious openings in the opponent's guard. The purpose of all this was to confuse the person he was fighting to the point where they would lose focus.

The style also made extensive use of something rarely seen in taijutsu, feint attacks. Most ninja avoided feints because any competent foe would recognize them immediately due to the lack of chakra powering the supposed strike. Naruto, however, had such a large chakra capacity that putting chakra into feint attacks wouldn't tire him out any faster, unlike the majority of ninja, who had to preserve whatever chakra they had for attacks with the potential of damaging their opponent.

The blonde had also come up with two highly-useful ideas that he incorporated into the style to increase its effectiveness. First was in the use of the weight seals on his body, specifically the ones on his hands, feet, knees, and elbows. By channeling additional chakra to the weight seals, he could significantly increase the mass of the aforementioned body parts. Doing this while in the middle of, say, throwing a punch, would not have an effect of the speed of the punch thanks to momentum, and since force equals speed times mass times chakra enhancement, an increase in weight resulted in a direct increase in force. With his current chakra control, he could place enough chakra into the seals in the brief time available to double the weight of a limb, thereby doubling the strength of his blows.

The second idea was something that sprung from the tree-walking exercise. By channeling chakra to his hands and maintaining it, Naruto could make his opponents stick to his fists just like he stuck himself to trees. By repeatedly activating and deactivating this stickiness and combining it with the enhanced speed of his wind-natured chakra, he was able to strike an opponent multiple times in rapid succession without the problem of them being forced away by the blows. It was a bit more complicated than that, though, and the attacks were limited in strength because of the chakra used to keep the target in place, but it was still a pretty useful tactic.

Also, thanks to the wind chakra to enhance his speed and the lightning chakra for reaction time and reflexes, straight out dodging attacks was relatively easy and used extensively. After all, if a kage bushin couldn't be hit, it wouldn't dispel.

Right now, the blonde was going to the hot springs for chakra control training. The hot water was less dense than the colder water in the ponds, lakes, and streams around Konoha and therefore required better control to water walk on. Practicing his new taijutsu style while water walking would serve to train his control even better.

Naruto had been training for a bit over an hour when his sensitive hearing picked up an odd sound coming from the direction of the women's baths. He quickly identified the sound as giggling and also noted that it was quite similar to the sound Kakashi-sensei made while reading his little orange book.

Looking over, the blonde saw a man with long white hair kneeling down on the ground in front of a tiny gap in the fence blocking the bathing women from view. The boy immediately decided that it was his civic duty to do something about the pervert.

He silently crept up on the man. As he got closer, he could her him mumbling. "Yeah... That's it... Just a little bit more..."

By this point, Naruto was standing directly behind the oblivious peeker. He took in a deep breath. "OI! PERVERT! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

The man spun around almost faster than the genin could track. "SHUT UP, BRAT! DO YOU WANT TO GET ME FOUND-" He cut off abruptly as his brain registered just who was standing behind him. The pervert spent nearly two full seconds just staring at the blonde. Upon realizing just what he was doing, he shook himself out of his stupor. "You look a lot like someone I used to know, brat."

Now, even though he had never met the man before, between pictures and information, identifying him as Jiraya of the Sannin was fairly easy. "Well, that would probably be because he was my dad, _Ero-Sannin_." The nickname just seemed to fit.

In the two-and-a-half months since he had discovered the existence of Arashi's sickening personality-stealing ability, Naruto had begun to think of him as two separate people. One of these was Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage and his father. The other was Kazama Arashi, the insane power-hungry bastard. This mental division was enough to let him think of the man without paralyzing everything in a five-yard radius with killing intent.

* * *

Jiraya was shocked. His original plan had been to simply have a good peek before heading off to the Hokage tower to see what Sarutobi-sensei had felt the need to summon him back to Konoha for. The moment he heard a very loud shout coming from directly behind him, the Sannin knew his plan had fallen to pieces.

As previously mentioned, the fifty-year-old man was shocked. The first source of said shock was the simple fact that someone had been able to sneak up on him at all. Of course, the fact that he hadn't really been paying attention coupled with the lack of any sort of hostile intent had doubtless aided the sneaker.

His second source of shock had been the identity of said sneaker. His brain had taken less than a millisecond to identify Uzumaki Naruto, despite not having laid eyes on the boy in nearly thirteen years. He then spent nearly two seconds just how _exactly_ the young ninja looked like Minato had at that age, with the exception of the whiskers. It was like seeing a ghost.

Then the boy's response produced by far the largest amount of shock he had felt yet. /he knew who his father was? How?! Unable to fully comprehend this, his brain latched on to what it could understand. "Don't call me that, brat! I am the one and only, the great, the powerful Jiraya-sama."

That smirk on the blonde's face reminded him far too much of Kushina to be healthy. "You sure about that? Cause I think you're a pervert who's about to get what's coming to him." He gestured to his right.

Turning slowly in the indicated direction, Jiraya felt the righteous fury of a large group of kunoichi bearing down on him. The fact that one of these kunoichi happened to be Mitarashi Anko only served to increase his terror at the coming punishment.

Rotating his head back to face the blonde again, he arranged his features into their best pleading expression. Naruto's only response was to create four kage bushins and have each one hold a limb, preventing any chance of escape.

Ten minutes later, the blonde walked over to a twitching, whimpering mass of white hair on the ground. "Cut the act. If a beating like that could hurt you that much, there's no way you could have survived as one of the Sannin." He roughly hauled the man to his feet.

Indeed, Jiraya was entirely unharmed. His mood suddenly turned more serious. "Hey brat, how the hell did you Minato was your old man?"

Wait, he didn't know that Naruto knew? Then... "How long has it been since you've been in Konoha?"

The older man found the question odd, but answered it nontheless. "About six years. Why?"

So he didn't know the truth. This would not be a fun explanation. "It would probably be best if we went to see Ojisan. There's something you have a right to know." And Naruto headed in the direction of the Hokage tower, with a simultaneously curious and worried pervert following.

* * *

Sarutobi Hizuren was surprised to see his favorite blonde coming into his office. Knowing the boy, he would have figured he would be training. Then the aged Hokage saw who was with him. "Ah, I see you two ran into each other."

"Yeah. I had decided to do some training down by the hot springs, and I caught Ero-Sannin here peeping." The old man couldn't hold back a chuckle on hearing the nickname. "Anyway, Ojisan, apparently he doesn't know about Arashi?"

"No, Naruto, he doesn't. Jiraya has been on an S-rank information-gathering mission for the past six years and could not be contacted until recently. And this sort of information is best delivered in person." The Sandaime turned to face his former student. "Jiraya, what I am about to tell you is something you should be sitting down for."

The white-haired Sannin did as asked.

* * *

When the Hokage finally finished his explanation, his former student sat completely still. In fact, he hadn't moved or spoken once since sitting down. Despite his composed appearance, Naruto could tell that the only thing keeping the man from breaking down completely was the years upon years of harsh life as a ninja. Jiraya didn't say a single word for nearly five minutes, the other two also remaining silent to let him sort things out in his mind.

The white-haired man smiled, although he was clearly forcing himself to do so. "Well then, brat, how about I start personally training you so you can beat him someday?"

The blue-eyed boy could tell that he was using all his considerable willpower to direct his mind in a positive direction. "Yippee! Personal training from a Sannin!" He leapt to his feet in excitement. "What are you gonna teach me? Awesome jutsus? Advanced fuinjutsu? What? What?"

His happiness was infectious, and the pervert soon burst out into laughter, the blonde-and-orange ball of energy having erased his negative feelings as easily as the sun erases darkness. "Whoa! Slow down there, brat! First, I'll need to find out what you can do, then we'll see where to go next. But for now, I have a report to deliver..." He turned back to Sarutobi, switching into business mode as he did so.

"I trust Naruto implicitly. Also, your mission was to gather information on Akatsuk, so this concerns him as well. He should hear this." The Hokage glanced in the direction of the blonde, who had visibly reacted on hearing the name of the organization.

As Jiraya began to speak, the other two gave him their complete attention. "Unfortunately, there isn't much to report, considering how long I've been gone. Akatsuki is so secretive that it makes that old coot Danzo seem open and friendly in comparison. What I know for sure is that, as we suspected, they're after the Bijuu. They're capturing the demons and sealing them away somehow. I don't know the specifics of how they're planning to do it, but their aim is pretty clear: they're building up power until they can get their hands on the Kyuubi.

"As far as members go, there seems to be ten main members, all S-ranked missing-nin. Each of these members seems to have a ring that they keep on them at all times. Not sure exactly what, but those rings are far more than just decoration. Orochimaru was a member until about five months ago, and when he left, he took his ring with him, it seems. They haven't replaced him yet.

"They've also got a sizable group of subordinates, all of varying power. They're also all missing-nin, ranging from B-rank to a few more S-ranks, presumably to take the place of any main members who die.

"I've also confirmed that one of these upper members is Uchiha Itachi. All Akatsuki members wear a distinctive uniform while on Akatsuki business: a black cloak with red clouds. Knowing that, and combining it with what I just learned today, it's pretty obvious that the leader of the organization is Kazama Arashi. Just how many members know his full identity is unknown.

"As for current activities, they seem to be mostly gathering data on the bijuu and any jinchuriki, as well as funds, mostly from their new acquisition, Gato. All evidence points to them preparing to move on the Bijuu in about three years That concludes my report."

The Sandaime nodded. "Thank you, Jiraya. That will be all."

The Sannin turned to face the room's youngest occupant. "Okay, brat. Let's go train."

"Woohoo!" The blonde leapt up into the air, grinning. Then his stomach let out a loud rumble. "Um, can we get something to eat first Ero-Sannin? I kinda skipped breakfast this morning."

"Don't call me that! But sure, we can go eat first. And since it's your first day of learning from me, I'll pay, and we can go wherever you want." Unfortunately for the pervert's wallet, he had been facing away from his former sensei, who was attempting to indicate just how bad an idea this was.

Naruto's grin returned, somehow even wider than before. "YAHOO! FREE ALL I CAN EAT ICHIRAKU RAMEN! YOU'RE THE BEST, ERO-SANNIN!"

The white-haired man suddenly felt a chill run down his spine as he was reminded of Uzumaki Kushina and her crazy obsession with the unhealthy noodles.

* * *

One hundred and seventy one bowls of ramen later, and the pervert was extremely glad that Icha Icha sold so well. "Ahh. That was delicious. Thanks, Ero-Sannin." The blonde let out a contented sigh and patted his stomach. As Jiraya forked over a large wad of bills to the ramen stall owner, he tried to keep his mind on the bright side. Namely, that the noodle-eating machine had given him a detailed description of his ninja skills between bowls.

There was no denying that the brat was pretty damn good for his age. Improving on and inventing jutsus and seals was not something any twelve-year-old could do. In fact, the only person he could think of who had bee able to do that kind of stuff at that age was Minato.

No! He had to keep his thoughts away from his former apprentice for now. Remembering the older blonde at this point in time wouldn't do anyone any good. Of course, it was hard when the boy looked almost exactly like his father.

All things aside, the frog hermit wasn't quite sure just how much of a help he would be. He could teach him several jutsus and maybe give him chakra control exercises, but that was about it. Naruto clearly wasn't suited for genjutsu, his taijutsu was apparently something he'd have to work on himself, and the blonde's fuinjutsu skills were about in par with his own. So...

"Hey brat, follow me."

The energetic orange blob shot from his stool. "Whoopee! A new jutsu! A new jutsu!" Oh yeah. And that shinkagan made him uncannily good at reading people.

* * *

"Okay now," the pervert had led him into the forest around Konoha, not too far from a waterfall that the village girls liked to use for bathing, "Listen up, brat. Since you've got such a ridiculously large chakra capacity, you can learn and efficiently use ninjutsu that consume vast amount of chakra. So I'm going to teach you jutsus that fit into that category. We're going to start off with Kuchiyose no Jutsu."

On hearing that he would be learning the famed summoning technique, Naruto's eyes lit up. "Awesome! Hey, Ero-Sannin, how does Kuchiyose no Jutsu work, anyway? I mean, it's got to be more than just the handseals and chakra, or everyone would be able to do it."

"You're right, brat. It is more than just that. For one thing, you need a blood sacrifice." He bit down hard on his thumb, resulting in a small bleeding wound. "But most importantly, you have to have signed a contract with whatever you're summoning." His hands blurred for an instant as he made seals too fast for Naruto's eyes to follow.

"**Kuchiyose no Jutsu"**

A puff of smoke later, and the Sannin was standing atop a frog a good bit taller than himself. Wrapped in it's long tongue was a huge scroll, which it placed on the ground in front of the blonde.

"Open that scroll and write your name in blood on the first empty space. Then below it place the fingerprints of the hand you're going to use to summon."

The boy urolled the scroll, but before putting down his own name, his eye was caught by the last name written. "Kazama Arashi. I'm guessing the scroll wouldn't accept a fake name."

"Yes, he did sign the frog contract. And you're right, you have to sign with what you consider your true name, or else it won't work." Another spasm of grief and guilt went through the white-haired man.

Naruto sighed deeply before piercing his thumb on one of his unnaturally sharp canines. He purposely diverted chakra away from the wound to keep it from healing before he finished. He spoke the characters in his name out loud as he wrote them down. "U zu ma ki na ru to." After rubbing the blood from his thumb onto his other four fingertips, he placed all five fingers of his right hand down firmly on the scroll below his name.

"Good. The seals are the boar, dog, bird, monkey, and ram. Give it a try." After saying this, the pervert took out his favorite peeping telescope, along with a notebook and pencil, and turned away from his student to watch girls.

Needless to say, Naruto found himself quite angry about this, but instead of shouting, as he would normally have done, his prankster mind began formulating a better idea.

When the blonde shouted out the jutsu name, Jiraya barely registered it. The bathing girls had apparently decided to remove their swimsuits, as they had left the water and were reaching for the shoulder straps. A trickle of blood dribble down his nose in anticipation.

The next instant, he found himself looking at blue sky and clouds instead of naked girls. He also registered that he was no longer standing on rock. Before he could puzzle out this odd new set of circumstances, he was interrupted by whatever he was standing on rumbling. When the bellowing voice reached his ears an instant later, the self-proclaimed super pervert realized what had happened.

"**JIRAYA, YOU WRINKLY OLD HERMIT! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU SUMMON ME FOR!?"** The man was immediately wrapped up in a giant tongue and brought face-to-eye with the Frog Boss, Gamabunta.

"Uh... um... it wasn't me! I swear! It really wasn't. I just taught Uzumaki Naruto the summoning technique and told him to try it out while I did some research. I never expected the brat to summon you on his first try, Gamabunta-sama!" The panic in his voice was obvious.

Unfortunately for the fifty-year-old shinobi, this response had the opposite of its intended effect. **"RESEARCH!? YOU MEAN YOU WERE SPYING ON WOMEN AGAIN, YOU DESPICABLE PERVERT?! DON'T YOU REMEMBER WHAT I SAID I'D DO TO YOU IF I EVER FOUND OUT YOU HAD DONE THAT AGAIN?!"** The white-haired man's eyes widened in fear as he recalled the Frog Boss's earlier warning. He only had about half a second to contemplate on and prepare for the extreme pain he was about to be in before he was hurled powerfully downwards toward the solid rock below.

With Jiraya of the Sannin now unconscious in a crater on the ground, Gamabunta calmed down. **"Now that that's out of the way... So, kid, you're the one who summoned me? Extremely impressive. Come over here so I can get a proper look at you."**

Sensing no real hostility in the giant frog's voice and figuring that it would be in his best interest to show respect to the Frog Boss, Naruto swiftly complied with the command. "It's good to meet you, Gamabunta-sama. Please forgive me if my summoning interrupted something important."

"**Heh. I like you, kid. I look forward to working with you in the future. But for now, you should probably meet the other members of my family first and get to know them. I have a son who's about your age; you two should probably get to know one another. Anyway, it was nice meeting you, though you should go tend to the pervert now." **And with that, he vanished in yet another puff of smoke, leaving the blonde falling through the air.

Fortunately, Naruto was tougher than your average shinobi, and a three hundred foot fall wouldn't cause him any damage, as long as he landed on his feet. Which he did, a couple yards away from his new sensei's crater.

After walking over to the unconscious man, he checked him over for broken bones and, finding none, tossed him over a shoulder and carried him to a tree. Leaning the pervert up against the trunk, Naruto waited for him to wake up, thinking over the summoning technique as he did so. An idea was beginning to develop in his mind, but he'd need to ask the man a few questions first.

* * *

It had been three hours, and the blonde was beginning to lose patience. First he'd tried shaking the white-haired man awake. Then he'd proceeded on to splashing him with freezing cold water. He'd even hit him lightly. But nothing seemed to work.

That was when inspiration struck. Quickly making the proper handseals, he mottered "henge."

"Oh Jiraya-sama," spoke a distinctly female voice, "won't you please wake up? I need you, Jiraya-sama." Naruto batted her eyelashes seductively at the pervert, who was beginning to stir, as she stood naked amidst clouds of smoke that barely covered her private parts. Apparently, he only needed a little more.

"Jiraya-sama, how did you get to be so handsome and charming? You're so strong and attractive that I can't help but find myself wanting to make love to you."

That worked. He was instantly on his feet gazing at the beautiful, perfect, stunning... Naruto. His lecherous grin vanished.

"GAH! Don't mess with my head like that, brat!"

The blonde glared at him. "Why the hell not, when you insist on remaining comatose for hours!?"

The Sannin's frustration was obvious. "Well it's your fault. What were you thinking, summoning Gamabunta?"

"I was trying to teach you a lesson, Ero-Sannin, but I doubt it worked."

"Whatever brat. Anyway, you seem to have gotten the hang of summoning far faster than I had expected, so I'm not entirely sure what to do with you next."

Naruto settled down. "Actually, I've got a couple questions about summoning, if you don't mind."

"Tell me a bit about whatever the jutsu you just used was, and I might answer them." The pervert seemed determined to find out how his new student had transformed himself into a highly-attractive naked girl.

The genin let out an irritated growl. "Fine. I call it the orioke no jutsu, and it's nothing more than a simple usage of the advanced form of henge I made when I was eight. I don't feel like explaining it right now, so go ask Ojisan for the details. Now about my questions."

Looking at the blonde boy before him, Jiraya realized that he had inherited his mother's stubbornness. It would be easier to convince a rock to walk from here to Kiri than to try and get any more out of him. "All right. Shoot."

"Okay, first of all, is it possible for someone to sign more than one summoning contract?"

The Sannin wondered what in the world had brought on a question like that. "Theoretically, a ninja can have two summons, one with the right hand and one with the left. Although I'm fairly certain no one's ever signed more than one."

Apparently, judging by the expression on Naruto's face, this was the answer he had hoped for. "Now for my other question, how do summoning contracts come into existence?"

"Well, the contracts are created by the animals they summon. But it has to be an animal with ridiculous amounts of power. You're not going to see any ant summoning contracts for example." Now the frog hermit was really curious.

The blonde gave him a small grin. "Thanks, Ero-Sannin." Immediately after saying this, he sat down and began to meditate.

Jiraya stood there watching the boy, wondering just what was going through his head, for nearly fifteen minutes. When Naruto didn't move at all, the pervert eventually lost interest and returned his attention to his telescope and the waterfall. Unfortunately (in his mind) the girls had already left a long time ago.

Knowing it wouldn't be right to just leave Naruto here like this, the pervert took out his notebook and pencil, writing down everything he could remember about the blonde beauty he had seen on waking.

It was another five minutes before the blue-eyed boy returned to the world. "Oi! Ero-sennin!" Once he had the man's attention, he continued in a far more serious tone. "I'm about to do something that could be highly dangerous. If anything goes wrong, I want you to make this seal sequence immediately," he handed the Sannin a slip of paper. "The jutsu I'm about to use should last for about two to three minutes. If it doesn't stop when it should, that means something's gone wrong."

Jiraya's brain was starting to add things up, and he wasn't liking whaat it was telling him. "Naruto, what are you planning?"

The boy made no response. Instead, he removed from his pouch three of what were clearly highly-advanced barrier seals. Placing them in a triangle three meters apart from each other, Naruto stepped into the middle of the three seals and activated them.

The barrier that sprung up seemed to be made of pure chakra, compacted and flattened until it looked like light blue glass, almost completely transparent. The moment it sprung up, the Sannin found himself unable to sense the blonde's chakra. It seemed to be cutting off all contact with the outside world except through sight and sound. Then he made eighty-three handseals, seven of which were outside the normal twelve and clearly invented just for this jutsu.

"**Seishin Isou no Jutsu"** (mind transfer technique)

The changes were obvious and immediate. Bright blue eyes became red and slitted. Fingernails and toenails lengthened into claws. Teeth grew sharper and whisker marks deepened. And red chakra poured out in torrents. In less than five seconds, all sight of the blonde was completely obscured. In his place was a fox made entirely out of the red chakra, with nine tails sweeping about behind it.

"**Hello there, Jiraya-kun. I would like to eat you right now, but unfortunately my host is too cautious for that to be possible."**

The strength of the killing intent from the voice and sight of the Kyuubi alone were enough to force the legendary ninja to his knees. As his mind registered just who was speaking to him, he saw a large amount of that red chakra drift off of the kitsune's body and begin to coalesce at her feet.

The chakra became cylindrical in shape, and what was undoubtably a summoning contract took form on the ground. **"Well, now that I've done that, why don't we talk a bit? A skilled ninja such as yourself is sure to have accumulated a good deal of highly-pleasurable kills throughout his lifetime. Tell me about some of them."**

The idea of holding a casual conversation with the Kyuubi no Kitsune was surreal, especially when still trying to cope with the fact that she was a she. Granted, the fox demon's idea of a good topic for discussion was well outside the norm. Jiraya, having recovered from the overwhelming killing intent, glared at the monster. "No."

"**Foolish little man. Oh well, your loss. You know, a few years ago, the kit went on a nice killing spree. It was quite enjoyable feeling the blood and brain matter as he crushed one idiot's skull in his hand..."** The man tuned out her voice as the demon continued describing, in detail, various mutilations and how it felt to tear someone in half, or tear ot their throat with your teeth.

A couple minutes later, the red chakra receded, and Naruto's body crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

Five minutes after that, the barrier fell, and ten minutes later still, the blonde woke up.

As soon as he regained consciousness, Naruto knew he was in trouble, but he had been expecting that. The Sannin's anger was so great it was like a palpable force bearing down on him.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING!?"

It took every bit of mental energy he had to remain calm amidst the storm of fury. "I was making a summoning contract for kitsune."

"I CAN TELL THAT, YOU IDIOT! BUT WHAT IF THE FOX HAD ESCAPED, HUH? WHAT THEN? THE WHOLE VILLAGE WOULDHAVE BEEN DESTROYED!"

"No it wouldn't have. I took every possible precaution, and on the slight chance that something went wrong, I had you here. That seal sequence I gave you activates an unremovable killing seal on my forehead. As soon as you activated it, my body would be completely destroyed, and the fox along with it."

The white-haired man"s eyes widened at this revelation. "You put a seal like that on yourself? Are you insane? What if an enemy fond out about it?"

"The two of us are the only people who know about it, plus I keep the only copy of the activation sequence securely on me at all times and change it weekly. I'm the only one who can get to it, so there's no worry about any enemies using it against me."

The Sannin was still angry. "You should have told me what you were planning first."

"If I had, you wouldn't have let me do it." Clear blue eyes read the truth of this statement on the man's face with ease.

Jiraya sighed. "Okay brat. Just... never do something like that again, all right? Now, since you already went through all that trouble, go ahead and sign the damn scroll already."

Naruto did so, this time using his left hand. "Mind if I give it a test?"

"Sure, go ahead. Just don't put in too much chakra."

"Of course not," answered the blonde, going through the required handseals as he did so.

"**Kuchiyose no Jutsu"**

The puff of smoke, instead of the usual white, was black. When it cleared, there was a fox, a bit taller than its summoner, standing in front of him. Its fur was a dark reddish-orange, and a single tail swayed back and forth behind it. Jiraya noticed that its eyes, which were red and slitted, were avoiding Naruto's clear blue ones.

"**Hello, kit"**

"Hello, fox bitch."


	33. Chapter 33

**chapter 33**

**round one**

Jiraya looked at the blonde genin, seeing that he clearly wasn't surprised by what had just happened in the least. Then he looked at the fox the boy had just summoned. There was no denying that it was the Kyuubi; a Kyuubi limited to only it's first tail, maybe, but the demon fox nonetheless.

"Brat, what the hell is going on? I thought what you signed was _a kitsune_ summoning contract, not a_ KYUUBI_ summoning contract!" the white-haired ninja exploded.

"**I am a kitsune, am I not, Jiraya-kun?"** The demon's voice made a chill run down his spine. **"Besides, the kit has to prove himself worthy before he can earn the right to summon my clan, among other things"**

The Sannin was immediately suspicious. "Other things?"

His question had clearly been aimed at Naruto. "The fox bitch and I worked out a deal, of a sort. She wants to make me as powerful as possible to improve my, and therefore her, chances of survival. I refuse to accept power that I don't have to work for.

"What we came up with was that if I can defeat her in single combat at a certain power level, she'll give me an equivalent amount of power to call my own. As an incentive to make sure she doesn't hold back, her victory results in my asking Ojisan to give me the next mission that comes up involving the slaughter of a large group of people, and I... let her have a bit of fun. In a highly-controlled manner, of course."

"If I didn't know so much about you, brat, I might fear for your sanity. Challenging _the_ Kyuubi no Kitsune to a one-on-one fight? And what happens if it goes too far and you die?"

The jinchuriki's answer was immediate. "She dies too, but I'd think you would have a little more faith in me than that, Ero-Sannin."

"For the hundredth time, brat, stop calling me that! Show a bit of respect for one of the greatest ninja of all time!" Jiraya shouted in his face.

Naruto smirked. "I am showing you respect. That's why I'm calling you Ero-_Sannin_ instead of Ero-_Sennin_."

Said perverted Sannin growled, only to be interrupted before he could retort. **"So, kit, were you wanting to do this now?"**

The two humans dropped their argument, remembering just what was standing right next to them. "Sure thing, fox bitch. Bring it on!"

On hearing this, the pervert panicked. "W-wait! Here?!" He was clearly worried as to the effects of a battle of this scale on the hirls' favorite bathing waterfall nearby.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me. Ero-Sannin, would you mind acting as referee?"

Jiraya grumbled, but accepted in the end. "All right, begin!"

The fox demon made her move immediately, springing forward at the boy in front of her, drawing back a paw for use as a fist. Naruto immediately leapt out of the way, gaping at the crater five yards wide that formed when the blow made contact with the ground. No denying that the fox had the advantage in brute strength.

In a fluid motion, the blonde, while still in midair, unsheathed his two huge swords and sent a concentrated double blast of chakra at his foe. Kyuubi whipped her tail around in front of her, preventing any damage from the attack, but the force was still enough to cause deep cracks in the ground beneath her paws.

Just as Naruto hit the ground, she retaliated with a burst of her red chakra out of her mouth. Unable to dodge in time, the genin took the hit squarely in his chest, flying back thirty yards and going through two trees before slamming into the ground.

By the time the blonde was able to regain his feet, Kyuubi was already right in front of him, standing on her back two paws while swinging the front two downward in what promised to be a bone-crushing blow. With the aid of his chakra-enhanced reflexes and speed, Naruto was able to get his right sword up in time to intercept the strike, sharp side first.

Unfortunately for him, the kitsune's chakra was so thick that the blade, even though coated in wind chakra, only cut a couple inches into her arms. As soon as her first attack failed, she began swinging her tail around her body for another blow, but Naruto knew it would take nearly a full half-second to reach him. So he immediately dropped the sword in his left hand and, concentrating large amounts of wind chakra to his left arm, punched her eighteen times in rapid succession, all exactly in the center of her chest, using chakra collected in his knuckles to keep her from flying away. On the last punch, he released the stored chakra, propelling her away at a far greater rate than would have otherwise been possible.

Watching the two fight, the white-haired Sannin found himself impressed by his new student's ability. Naruto had explained to him what he was capable of, of course, but it was another thing entirely to see it in action, as he dropped his remainingsword and chased after the flying fox, moving so fast that he as actually gaining on her slightly.

Then the boy made the handseal for the kage bushin no jutsu, and a single clone poofed into existence alongside him, also running. He grabbed the replication by the shoulder and hurled it ahead of him. Jiraya immediately noticed two things: one, the bushin was right on track to be directly above the still-flying Kyuubi in just under two seconds, and two, it was making handseals. Now _that_ was a completely unexpected and extremely effective use of the kage bushin.

By the time the demon realized the danger she was in, the clone was in her face calling out he jutsu name.

"**Fuuton: Daitoppa no Jutsu"**

The powerful gust of wind all focused directly on her body had the end result of leaving the bijuu on her back at the center of a six-foot-deep crater.

Naruto leapt down into the hole in the ground, fully intent on driving Haruhi's katana, which he had just drawn, straight through her neck. But the Kyuubi's tail was faster. Before he could maneuver out of the way, or pull off a kawarimi, or anything, she had him wrapped up painfully tightly in the furry appendage, which was now also exuding large amounts of her burning red chakra.

"**So, how do _you_ like the pain, kit?"** she asked conversationally, while climbing to her already-healed paws, holding the boy a yard away from her body and about four feet off the ground. **"It's uncomfortable, isn't it? Any second now, your bones will start breaking from the pressure and the chakra will melt your skin. If you give up, of course, it will all go away."** She bared her fangs in a sadistic grin.

The blonde gave Kyuubi a defiant look, noting that she still would not make direct eye contact with him. "Shut... ...the fuck up... ...fox bitch," he grunted out.

The kitsune's response was to growl and tighten her grip. Naruto just kept up his silent glare, even as he felt his ribs were close to breaking. Then, after fifteen seconds, he smirked and released the massive amount of chakra he had been building up inside his body from the moment the tail had grabbed him.

The wave of blue energy ripped the tail holding him to shreds as it was forced away from him in all directions at once. The fox was thrown back also, straight into the side of the crater, where she made a deep indentation. Naruto collapsed to his knees, gasping for breath. There wasn't any blood, and the tail pieces turned into red chakra which quickly vanished into the surrounding air.

But his enemy wasn't the type to give him time to recover. Just over three seconds passed before she exploded from the crater wall, her tail already starting to regenerate. It was clear that he had made her angry.

"**YOU BASTARD! I'LL KILL YOU FOR HARMING MY TAIL!"** And, condensing a large amount of chakra in her mouth, she shot it at the blonde like a projectile. He leapt away just before it hit, grabbing the fallen katana as he did so.

The fight's only spectator marveled at the boy's strategy. He was purposely making the fox demon mad at him, using his heightened speed to dodge around her chakra blasts with ease, all while smiling at her cheekily. Then he dashed in towards her, dodging around the chakra attack and tail, and struck out with a light kick followed by a duo of punches with no real force behind them before backing out again.

As Naruto continued with the questionable activity of annoying the Kyuubi no Kitsune, Jiraya was focusing most of his attention on something strange he had noticed. Namely, the fox's chakra. It seemed somehow familiar, and not in the I-remember-this-from-the-attack-thirteen-years-ago sense, but in the this-isn't-ordinary-chakra-and-I've-had-personal-experience-with-this-kind-of-chakra-before-but-just-can't-place-it sense. He was distracted from his thoughts as he watched the blonde slide toward his opponent feet first before using his hands to lift himself off the ground in a backwards cartwheel double kick to the fox's chin before handspringing back out of range. Creative little brat.

Apparently that last hit had taken the Kyuubi past some further breaking point, because she began to gather an insane amount of chakra while screaming **"YOU! DIE! NOW!!"**

The resulting ball of red chakra was nearly two yards across and speeding toward Naruto faster than he could hope to dodge, tearing up he ground as it went. His only reaction to the gargantuan ball of death was to smirk and hold out Haruhi's katana in front of him.

Despite his outward calm, the orange-loving genin was slightly worried on the inside. After all, he'd never tried to use the sword's absorption abilities before and was counting on it being intuitive, like the things his own weapons could do.

Luckily for him, it was, and the blade was shining a blinding reddish-white from the stored energy. He grinned at the Kyuubi as she realized her mistake and charged in, katana gripped tightly in both hands.

It was taking so much chakra to hold the energy within the blade that Naruto knew he would only get one swing, so he'd have to make it count. Aiming for the fox's neck, he swung the sword downward in a swift chopping motion.

The demon was, at that moment, slightly swifter. She threw herself backwards powerfully, managing to keep her body safe from the energy-overloaded blade, landing on her back twenty yards away. Her limbs, however, were not so fortunate. She lost all four paws and her single tail was once more reduced to a stump. The ground didn't fare much better, with a deep wide gash running through it as though some giant sword had cut deeply into the earth.

The blue-eyed boy, even as he ran towards the temporarily-incapacitated fox, was running low on ideas and chakra. Even with his insane reserves, that last attack had taken a lot out of him and, when combined with the chakra burst earlier and all the rest he had used throughout the fight, he was running on near-empty.

He ran through his options, knowing he needed some kind of powerful finisher. Elemental jutsu would be useless unless he could take her by surprise, as the Kyuubi had exceptionally good control over all five major elements, even in her severely weakened state. Her chakra-enhanced body was simply too tough to cut deeply enough for a killing blow, as his first strike against her had proven. It would take more than ten chakra-powered punches to bash in her skull, and that would give her far more than enough time to regenerate her lost limbs and start tossing him around like a plaything...

That was when he felt it. It was just barely noticeable, and had he had his normal mass amount of chakra, Naruto was sure he would have missed it it was so small, but there was no denying that it was there. His water-natured chakra. After all this time he had finally accessed, however slightly, his tertiary chakra nature. And just in time to make use of it.

Concentrating so much of his remaining chakra, wind, regular, and a bit of lightning, to the muscles in his right arm, the blonde leapt at his downed enemy. As he descended on her, he pumped as much chakra as he could into his weight seals, especially the ones on his right hand and elbow. The water chakra was all moved to the knuckles of his tightly-clenched fist, prepared to direct the full force of the blow straight forward. His target was the Kyuubi's heart.

Naruto's fist met no resistance as it pushed straight through the fox's skin, then the thick muscle behind it, the dense bone behind that, then the vital organ itself, followed by an even thicker muscle and more skin, before protruding out her back and into the ground. The demon's body decomposed into a mass of red chakra before fading away into the air.

The blonde collapsed in a heap, completely exhausted and sore all over. "Nice work, brat."

With effort, he managed to raise his head and look at the smiling man in front of him. "Thanks... ...Ero-Sannin."

"Yeah, no problem. You did a damn good job. What was with that last attack though? It didn't seem powerful enough to do that kind of damage."

"Oh... ...I... ...accessed my... ...water affinity... ...and used the... ...chakra... ...to direct... ...all the force... ...to the point... ...of contact," Naruto gasped out.

"**Kit." ** The fox bitch in his mind was apparently doing fine. **"That hurt. Anyway, you won, so it's time for me to hold up my end of our bargain."**

At those words, the demon container felt a strange energy flowing through him. It wasn't painful, as a matter of fact it was soothing in a way, but on top of everything else, it was just too much for his mind to handle, and he passed out. His last sight was of a light, bright purple aura surrounding him, like some kind of mix between Kyuubi's red chakra and his own light blue.

Jiraya, watching as the new chakra engulfed the boy, suddenly realized just what had seemed so familiar about the fox's chakra during the fight. "Heh, so I guess the demon kitsune really is a force of nature, in a manner of speaking," he said to the unconscious boy.


	34. Chapter 34

**chapter 34**

**new ability**

It was several hours before Naruto opened his eyes again. He found himself in the middle of a large clearing in one of the training grounds.

"I see you're finally awake, brat."

The voice was one he recognized instantly. "Shut the hell up, Ero-Sannin." Normally, he wouldn't have been so snappy with the older ninja, but his body was aching all over from the recent fight, and the man's voice was far too loud.

"Well if you're going to act like that, I guess I just won't explain to you about what that fox just did."

That caught the blonde's attention. "Sorry. Just a bit grumpy right now."

"You're forgiven." The legendary pervert grinned. "Anyway, brat, this is a pretty long explanation, so you might want to make yourself comfortable."

Hearing this, Naruto sat up and shifted into a cross-legged position. "So the fox-bitch gave me some of her power, right?" Seeing the Sannin nod, he continued, "Well I don't feel any different."

"That's because you're just not accessing the power right now. Okay, now listen up, because this is important. You know about how the Kyuubi is often thought of as a force of nature? Well, it seems that the people who think that are right, in a way. Have you ever heard of natural energy?"

When the blonde responded in the negative, Jiraya continued. "Just as chakra is the energy of living beings, natural energy is the energy of, well, nature as a whole. It's all around us all the time, but we just can't sense it. After watching your fight with the Kyuubi and what happened afterwards, I realized something.

"It's long been thought that the nine bijuu are enormous masses of chakra so powerful as to have become sentient. It seems, though, that they're actually made of natural energy, which would explain how they're all so frighteningly powerful. You see, natural energy is exponentially more potent than chakra, but at the same time, it makes living things revert to their basest of instincts.

"Now, what the Kyuubi gave you was essentially a pool of pure natural energy within your own body, alongside your chakra stores. Something that should, by all theories, be completely impossible. But putting that fact aside for a moment, I'll need to explain to you about senjutsu.

"Senjutsu is when a ninja harnesses the natural energy around themselves and combines it with their chakra. If done properly, the effect is a drastic increase in speed, strength, the power of jutsus, everything. If done improperly, and the ratio of natural energy to chakra is off, one of two things will happen.

"Too little natural energy results in the chakra overpowering it, meaning nothing happens. Too much natural energy, and it's just the opposite. The ninja loses all sense of self and becomes one with nature, permanently. Also, they turn into whatever animal they are most closely aligned with. For me, that would be a frog. For you, with both having the Kyuubi inside of you and that kitsune summoning contract you signed, it would be a fox. Understand all of that?"

When Naruto nodded, the white-haired pervert continued. "The required ratio of natural energy to chakra is 1:2. However, that's not something you'll have to worry about much, as that store of natural energy inside you seems to automatically siphon off the required amount of chakra from your regular supply. That drain was probably part of why you were out for so long. Now that i've spent so long explaining, it's probably time for you to try it out."

So saying, the man went through a series of handseals.

"**Doton: Maruishi Soushi no Jutsu"** (earth element: boulder creation technique)

The jutsu did exactly what its name implied. Chakra transformed into rock until a roughly spherical boulder about twenty five yards across was just sitting in the middle of the clearing, as though it had always been there. "First, I want you to find that pool of natural energy inside of you, draw it out, and pick up this boulder." Seeing the disbelieving look from his newest student, the pervert added on, "It's entirely possible. The point of this is so you can have a comparison to show just how much of an enhancement natural energy gives."

Despite knowing the Sannin wasn't lying, the blonde couldn't help but remain a little sceptic as he closed his eyes and searched within himself for the mix of chakra and natural energy. It didn't take long to find, as this new energy was unlike anything he had ever felt before. Just as he did with his chakra, Naruto mentally drew out the energy. When he felt the power begin to flow through his body, he opened his eyes again.

The jinchuriki felt powerful on a level he had never before experienced. He had drawn on the Kyuubi's chakra a couple of times before, and while the sheer amount of energy from the demon kitsune had been much greater, it had been wild and untamed, impossible to control. This was completely different.

This new chakra was a bright purple in color, a perfect combination of his own light blue and the fox's red. Naruto could feel it flowing through him around him in a calm, steady, yet still quite rapid motion. Some of the purple chakra was surrounding his body, coating him in some kind of cloak in the shape of a fox with a single tail.

Most of all, though, he felt like this energy was a part of him and himself a part of it. Moving the new chakra tail came as naturally to him as moving an arm or leg. Every bit of this new power was as natural to control as his own body.

"Whoa." The awed gasp slipped from his mouth involuntarily.

Jiraya, who he had nearly forgotten was present, he was so swept up in this amazing feeling, made himself known. "Feels pretty amazing, doesn't it?" All the blonde could do was nod. "Now come over here and pick up this boulder."

Right. Time to test what this purple chakra could do. He walked over to the giant mass of rock and, squatting down in order to get as much leverage as possible, wrapped his arms around as much of the boulder as he could manage. Then he attached his feet to the ground with chakra to offset the ridiculous difference in mass; otherwise, he'd just end up shoving himself downward into the earth, while the boulder remained in one place.

With a good amount of straining and a bit of protest from his muscles, Naruto straightened his lower body, and just like that, the enormous mass of stone was several feet off the ground. The blonde grinned widely before letting the boulder fall back to Earth with a ground-shaking THUD. Now to figure out his limits. The boulder had been heavy, yes, but it had taken nowhere near all his strength.

So he tried again, this time using only his arms. Concentrating as much chakra as was safe to the muscles in his upper body, Naruto slowly, painstakingly lifted the humongous rock again, not stopping this time until it was directly above his head, both arms in a straight vertical position. Then he let it fall again with another earth-shattering crash. Gasping for breath, the genin fell onto his back in the grass. It seemed that was his limit.

Recovery only took seconds, instead of the usual minutes he'd need after that kind of exertion. Apparently the natural energy enhanced his already impressive regeneration rate as well. To test this, the blonde took out a kunai and made a deep gash into his own forearm. It barely hurt at all, and the wound healed almost as swiftly as it formed. Very nice. Now to see how fast he was.

And he took off in a dead sprint. The pure sensation of speed overtook him as the purple chakra shield surrounding his body split the still air apart, removing the pesky factor of wind resistance. Naruto laughed in exhilaration and joy as he broke the sound barrier. He then dashed across the surface of a lake several miles from where he had started, moving so quickly that he didn't even need to water-walk to stay on the surface. The young ninja continued running and leaping about Konoha's training grounds for about ten minutes, filled with delight at the feeling of moving so impossibly fast.

Finally, Naruto settled down and returned to the clearing where he had started, only to find the white-haired Sannin missing. Not too big of a problem, fortunately, as his super-heightened sense of smell caught the pervert's scent immediately... ...coming from the baths six miles away. Thirty seconds later, he was standing right behind said pervert, who was, expectedly, crouched down in front of a hole in the fence of the women's baths.

"ERO-SANNIN!!" On hearing the angry shout, Jiraya turned around slowly, a fear-filled expression on his face. Naruto gave the man his patented prankster smirk before poking him gently in the chest, causing him to crash through the fence and tumbled, temporarily dazed, into a bath of _very_ irate kunoichi. He then found himself being beaten up by a mob of half-naked women for the second time that day.

While his new sensei was being beaten to a pulp again, Naruto used his time to start testing out jutsus with this more powerful chakra. It quickly became obvious that he would have to be very careful about just how much power he put into his ninjutsu when a fuuto: daitoppa he attempted ended up obliterating a square mile of forest.

The most interesting experiment was when he tried his favorite kage bushin no jutsu with the purple chakra. Not only did each individual clone require significantly less chakra to form, they were also far tougher, needing what would normally be an extremely painful wound before dispersing. Most important and useful of all, however, was that, likely due to the sense of connection that came from the natural energy, Nruto had a telepathic link with each and every one of his clones. It was like they were all a single entity split into numerous parts.

At this point, Jiraya came back. "Hey brat, you might want to stop all this before you seriously harm yourself."

"What do you"

"mean,"

"Ero-Sannin?"

"I feel"

"fine." Hearing five different kage bushins so perfectly in sync with each other was slightly unnerving.

"Sure, you feel fine now, but the one downside to this extra-potent chakra is that it's like a drug in many ways. Use too much of it all at once before your body's gotten used to it, and you could very well kill yourself when you stop." Something of the seriousness in the famous ninja's tone got through to the blonde, and he slowly stopped drawing on the purple chakra.

Naruto collapsed to the ground in a heap as unconsciousness claimed him.

* * *

The first thing he noticed was that the sky was beginning to darken. The second was that someone was calling his name.

"Naruto, you awake yet?"

His foggy mind soon placed the voice as Jiraya. All he could manage as a response was a slight movement of the head in the man's direction.

"Damn it, kid. I had wanted you to take it slow. I was just about to tell you about the negatives of using senjutsu when you when you decided to go for that little jog around Fire Country." The Sannin was glaring at him disapprovingly, and the blonde felt extremely ashamed of himself. He had let his new power go to his head and, instead of listening to someone obviously much more knowledgeable in the subject, had gone off on his own. Stupid! Hadn't Iruka-oniisan pounded it into his head over and over again that all power comes at a price?! He should have known better than to play around with something so new to him and clearly potentially dangerous.

"I'm sorry, Jiraya-sensei. It won't happen again." The white-haired man was temporarily shocked. He had only known Naruto for less than twenty four hours and already had his personality down well enough to know that a sincere apology like that was about as rare as his female teammate winning the lottery.

"Just... Just be a bit more careful in the future, okay brat?"

The blonde sat up and gave his trademark grin. "Don't worry, I will. Hey, Ero-Sannin, do you think you could teach me a few water jutsus, now that I've accessed my water affinity?"

* * *

The remaining time before the Chunin Exam finals passed swiftly for Naruto and the other competitors. The ramen-addicted genin was training most of the time, though he made sure to spend at least a little time each day in the hospital, visiting Hinata-chan, who unfortunately showed no signs of awakening from her coma. Over the next few weeks, he learned several water ninjutsu and invented one of his own, incorporated the enhancements from his water-element chakra into his taijutsu style, and got his body more used to handling the power of senjutsu.

Sasuke, after going away with Kakashi at the beginning of the month, had done nothing but train. He knew that he would be up against difficult opponents and repeatedly pushed himself to his limits and beyond, determined to go up against his blonde teammate and show the boy just how much he had improved.

Sakura, too, threw herself into her own training under the daily supervision of the blonde's kage bushin. While she knew her chances of victory in even her first match against Lee were extremely slim, there was no way she was going down without giving it her best effort.

The green-clad genin, too, had been training with his similarly-dressed sensei almost nonstop to be able to effectively use his now-accessible chakra. His teammates had spent the month improving themselves as well. Neji was getting better at the slow, steady pace he had always gone at, supremely confident in the power of his Byakugan and that fate was on his side. Tenten, meanwhile, was concentrating on becoming more skilled with the newest and most versatile addition to her large collection of weapons.

Kiba and Akamaru pushed themselves relentlessly over the month, focused solely on avenging the death of their teammate. Kurenai, for her part, was beginning to worry about her remaining male student's mental health. She would have to have a talk with him after the exam, when he was calm enough to listen.

On the other end of the spectrum, Shikamaru remained completely untroubled outwardly, spending all of his time on his favorite activity of cloud gazing. That isn't to say he wasn't worried. His highly observant brain had picked up on the increased activity of the ANBU, so it wasn't hard to guess that something big was coming, likely an invasion. Oh well, he'd focus on that when the time came. Right now he was far too busy envying the fluffy white accumulations of condensed water vapor floating high above.

All the out-of-village genin remaining in the exam were busy preparing, plotting, or, in the case of a certain red-headed jinchuriki, anticipating the upcoming violence and spilled blood.

In his office in the Hokage tower, Sarutobi Hizuren was looking over the schedule for the upcoming tournament to take his mind off of the attack he knew was fast approaching.

match 1: Uzumaki Naruto vs Hyuuga Neji

match 2: Tanaka Tenten vs Inuzuka Kiba

match 3: Tsuchi Kin vs Kurosaki Sora

match 4: Sabaku no Gaara vs Nara Shikamau

match 5: Hanuro Sakura vs Rock Lee

match 6: Sabaku no Temari vs Uchiha Saske

match 7: winner of match 1 vs winner of match 2

match 8: winner of match 5 vs winner of match 6

match 9: winner of match 3 vs winner of match 7

match 10: winner of match 4 vs winner of match 8

final match: winner of match 9 vs winner of match 10

It seemed there would be some very interesting matches to watch before all hell broke loose.


	35. Chapter 35

**chapter 35**

**the tournament begins**

Visitors had been arriving in a constant stream for the past several days. Feudal lords, wealthy merchants, and other important figures all flowed in through Konoha's main gate, eager to watch and bet on the final round of the Chunin Exam.

The excitement for the upcoming matches was thick in the air, and many business owners had given their employees the day off. The two chefs at the Ichiraku Ramen stand, however, were working just as hard as usual to feed their favorite customer.

"Here you go." Teuchi placed a much larger-than-normal bowl in front of the blonde, with all his favorite toppings and an extra helping of meat. "This one's on the house."

"But Teuchi-ojisan, you know I can't accept free ramen! Not now that I'm getting money from missions." Naruto's frequenting of their stand turned away enough business as it was.

The old man gave him a stern look. "Fine. Consider it paid for by all the money I'm going to win off of you."

"Mmm! This is delicious!" Despite his protests, the genin had already devoured nearly a quarter of the bowl while the chef was talking.

Ayame poked her head out around the corner from the back of the stall. "You know, Naruto-kun, you should probably get going if you don't want to be late."

The orange-clad ninja glanced at the clock on the wall as he finished the double-deluxe-delicacy bowl. "Hey you're right! Thanks. See you both later!" He paid for the first twenty bowls as well as giving his usual generous tip and departed in a blur of speed. Two of his first precious people, father and daughter, watched as the orange blur flew across the rooftops, vanishing out of sight within seconds.

"Good luck, Naruto," the old ramen chef whispered.

* * *

The crowds. The sheer number of people, and the waves of excitement and anticipation rooling off of them. Naruto had never seen anything quite like it, nor had he ever seen so many thousands of people all in one place. The concentrated force of so many emotions suddenly coming to him through his shinkagan was nearly enough to overwhelm the blonde genin, before he managed to adjust to it.

The other contestants were all grouped together in the center of the arena, along with a jonin he did not recognize, chewing on a senbon cleverly disguised as a piece of grass. Sasuke was notably absent.

Once he had finished gazing around in awe, Naruto took his place with his fellow examinees. He saw Ojisan up above, rising to his feet. Next to the old man , disguised as the Kazekage, sat Orochimaru. The blonde only managed to recognize him by that unique bit of emtiness coming from the snake Sannin's soul.

The aged Hokage spoke. "Thank you all for coming here today for the finals of the Chunin Selection Exams. I hope you all enjoy the coming matches and wish good luck to al the contestants." Somehow, he managed to be hear all throughout the stadium, despite not having raised his voice above a talking level. The chatter immediately died down.

"Okay," the senbon-chewing jonin spoke up into the silence, "My name is Shiranui Genma and I'll be the examiner for this final stage of the Chunin Exams." While all the other examinees were wondering why they had this new man, instead of the one from the preliminaries, Naruto already knew. He had felt Hayate's death through his shinkagan last week, during the mdle of the night. "The rules are the same as in the preliminaries: the tournament will consist of one-on-one matches between the participants. Anything is allowed, and the match ends when one contestant is unconscious, dead, or otherwise incapable of winning, or if one of the fighters forfeits, I also reserve the right to call the fight at any time. I hope you all give your best effort. Now, could all contestants except for Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji please go to the contestants' box?"

A minute later, there were only the two genin and the examiner remaining on the arena floor. "Neji." The Hyuuga looked at his opponent's suddenly ice-cold blue eyes. "For what you did to Hinata-chan, you will suffer."

"Hmph. You may be powerful, Uzumaki, but I will not be defeated by the likes of you." The older genin's sheer arrogance would normally have been enough to start Naruto screaming his head off, but he remained calm.

"I said you would suffer, not that I would defeat you." the blonde responded cryptically, while taking his swords off his back and setting them gently on the ground, his eyes never leaving his opponent. "He saw the questioning expression in the white eyes. "They would only hinder me."

Genma chose this moment to make himself known. "Begin!"

Neither shinobi moved

"You know, Neji, Hinata-chan told me all about the Hyuuga clan. Like the division between the houses," the long-haired boy ran forward swiftly while activating his byakugan, "that seal they put on your forehead," Naruto shifted slightly to the left, dodging a jyuuken strike to his shoulder by mere millimeters, "and what happened with Kumo ten years ago." The blonde weaved out of the way of several more strikes as he continued speaking, each attack missing, again, by only the slightest margin.

The Hyuuga boy backed off. "So she told you about how the main branch killed my father?"

Naruto gave the other boy a stern glare. "Is that how you see it?"

The white-eyed ninja felt his emotional control slip slightly. "What other way is there to see it? Fate decreed that my father would die that day so that his twin brother, his main branch twin brother, could keep his life!"

Another bout of furious attacks and seemingly-effortless dodges ensued. "Fate again? Is that your excuse for everything?"

He backed off again. "Fate decides all. No one can escape their fate."

Naruto grinned. "You don't even believe that yourself, do you? I can see it in your eyes. After all, if fate determines everything, why are you even trying?" At this point, the older genin charged in again, hands glowing with chakra. "You tried to defy fate at the preliminaries, when you attempted to murder Hinata-chan, and you're trying again now by continuing these useless attacks."

Never once did concern or worry flicker through the deep blue eyes, as their owner deftly evaded every single strike from his opponent. Neji leapt away once more, panting slightly. "Why don't you attack me?!" With his byakugan, he could see that the blonde was continuously circulating large amounts of chakra through his body, concentrated towards the muscles and nerves.

"The only "fate" is the one we make for ourselves. I will prove that to you today, in this match."

"You will? Just how do you plan on doing that? Humiliating me and, as you put it, "making me suffer?" That proves nothing we have not already both realized."

"Why do you cling so stubbornly to your idea of fate, anyway?"

"Hinata-sama may have explained it to you," Neji reached up to his headband, "but you can never truly understand," he removed the wrap of metal and cloth, revealing to the world the Caged Bird seal that marked him as part of the branch house, "what it's like to have a seal that can never be removed."

Naruto laughed, though the sound contained no mirth. "_I_ can never understand? Let me show you something, Hyuuga Neji." In an instant, the boy was immediately in front of him, powerful hands gripped iron-tight around his shoulders, preventing his arms from moving. His deep blue eyes seemed to take up the who;e of his 360 degree vision, as though they were the only thing that existed in the entire world...

_

* * *

drip..._

_drip..._

_drip..._

"This is no genjutsu. Where the hell are we?!" The Hyuuga boy was slowly adjusting to the fact that the two of them were somehow in a sewer, although something about the place seemed off, a though it didn't really exist.

"Welcome to my mind, Neji. Follow me; there's something I want to show you." The older genin was too confused by his current situation to do anything but obey. He walked behind the blonde for what seemed like hours, the only sounds the constant drip and the water moving around their feet.

Eventually, Naruto turned down one of the many side passages. Another long walk led to a pool of water. The reflection in the pool showed not the faces of the two shinobi, but a small, dirty room. "This is my second birthday. Step in."

The long walk had given Neji time to reorient his brain, and he wasn't about to start taking orders from his opponent. "Why should I? More importantly, what are we doing here, and how did we get here?"

The younger boy fixed his piercing blue eyes on the Hyuuga's white ones. "I said I wanted to show you something, remember? As for how we got here, that doesn't matter right now. Now either step into that pool or I will throw you in."

Naruto had already made it clear just how great the gap was between them physically. Sighing in resignation, Neji stepped into the pool and sank beneath its waters.

* * *

"I take it you have some questions." The long-haired boy simply nodded, too shocked by what he had just experienced to form an cohesive thoughts, let alone words. "I was treated that way because, well, it would be easier to just show you that as well.

Another long walk through the ankle-high water, back in the direction they had come, left the two boys in front of an enormous cage. "W-what's in there?" Neji gasped out. The aura of pure evil and malice it gave off was overwhelming.

Two gargantuan red slitted eyes opened, glowing like some kind of unholy fire. **"Me"**

Orange-red fur, the body of a fox, and nine tails swaying back and forth. It was straight out of the pictures in the history texts. The Kyuubi no Kitsune.

"Shut up, fox." Deep blue eyes turned to look solemnly at the Hyuuga. "The Kyubi has been sealed in me since the day of my birth. You want to talk about seals that can never be removed? Well, I've got one too. And because of it, my life has not been a good one."

The older genin stood completely still, letting his mind process and absorb this world-altering information. For this boy, who had endured so much, who had been dead-last in his Academy class, to have overcome everything in his path and grown so powerful... Was he right? Was there really no such thing as fate?

"Does Hinata-sama know?"

"No. Not yet. None of our generation does, and this is considered an S-class secret that only I and the Hokage can reveal. I've been meaning to tell her ever since we started dating, but how do you tell the girl you love that there's a demon inside of you?" The blonde sighed. "You know, Hinata-chan hates the way the Hyuuga clan works just as much as you do."

"She does? But why? She is from the main house; she gets all the special attention and praise, and she doesn't have to suffer like we do."

"That's one of the reasons why I love her so much: she cares deeply for everyone around her. Think, Neji. When have you ever seen her use the caged bird seal on a branch member?"

Silence for a moment, then: "But that doesn't change the fact that the main house murdered my father just to keep their precious clan head breathing."

"No it doesn't, and if that really is how it happened, then they're heartless bastards who deserve to die. But I know the Hokage, and instinct tells me that the old man would _never_ allow something like that to happen in his village."

"He allowed your treatment as a child."

A spasm of pain crossed the blonde's face as he remembered what he had gone through. "He had no choice in that. Ojisan may have a lot of power, but even he can't control the whole village by himself."

Another pause, and Naruto felt something shift within the other boy emotionally. "Come on, let's get back to our bodies."

This reminder of the outside world stirred Neji into speaking again. "That's right, we were in the middle of a match! I wonder what the crowds are thinking, the two of us just standing there."

"Don't worry; this whole time has only been about two seconds out there."

* * *

Naruto released his grip on the Hyuuga's shoulders and stepped back. The long-haired boy raised his hand. "Proctor, I forfeit. I cannot win this fight."

Genma's shock on hearing a Hyuuga surrender was only visible for the briefest of miliseconds. "Very well. Winner, Uzumaki Naruto."

The audience was silent, too stunned by this sudden and strange turn of events to think of cheering. Then, slowly, one person began to clap, then another, and another, until soon the sound was deafening. Naruto looked around in awe. These people were cheering... for him! Him, Uzumaki Naruto! It was the acknowledgment he had wanted all his life, and now that he had earned it at last, the feeling was overwhelming.

The blonde just stood there, his mouth hanging open, until the examiner tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, you need to get out of here so we can start the next match." Returning to his senses, Naruto nodded and took the quickest way out: a single leap straight into the contestants' box.

* * *

Neji was standing off to the side, going over everything that had just happened, when he heard a familiar voice from behind him. "Neji, come. We must talk."

He obeyed the command immediately, but the resentment in his voice was far less than it would have been a half hour ago. "Yes, Hiashi-sama."

* * *

Genma's voice rang out across the stadium. "Will Tanaka Tenten and Inuzuka Kiba please come down to the arena so we can begin the next match?" Up above, the dog-boy's face split in a feral grin, eagerly anticipating this fight, which would bring him one step closer to avenging Shino. The kunoichi, on the other hand, was calm and confident as Naruto and Sakura wished both her and her opponent good luck. While Kiba and his partner leapt over the railing, the more level-headed girl opted to take the stairs. Soon, they were standing exactly where Naruto and Neji had been ten minutes ago.

"Tenten-san, I would rather not have to hurt you, as a fellow Konoha ninja, but I need to win this fight for my teammate."

"For your teammate? You mean that boy who was killed in the preliminaries? If you're fighting for revenge, then I'm sorry, but I'll have to stop you. I didn't really know Shino, but I doubt he'd be very happy about you trying to throw your life away."

Unfortunately, the comment about the deceased Aburame was enough to break the boy's precarious self control, and the anger that had been simmering inside of him for the last month burst forth. "You bitch! Don't you dare talk about Shino as though you know what he would or wouldn't want! I'll tear you to pieces!"

The examiner chose that moment to announce the start of the match, as both fighters suddenly looked in the mood for blood. "Begin!"


	36. Chapter 36

author's note

Sorry to all my readers, but I'm putting this story on hold for the time being. I just have too many other ideas bouncing around in my head right now to focus on this one.

Note that the story is simply on hold, NOT discontinued. I will resume it in the future, and I've got a lot more stuff planned, but right now, I need to concentrate my attention elsewhere.

Sorry for leaving off at such a bad point.

For those of you who enjoy my writing, I am starting another story. It will be Naruto-centric, just like this one but will also be very different from anything I've seen on this site before.

This notice will be replaced by the real chapter 36 when I write it.


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